Through A Death Eater's Eyes
by Morwen Elda
Summary: Calida, a third generation Death Eater has been attempts to help the Dark Lord thwart Harry Potter. What will happen when an item she has been entrusted to guard falls into the wrong hands? AU and started before the release of Deathly Hallows.
1. The Golden Cup

_Disclaimer: JK Rowling's characters and ideas belong to her, not to me. This story begins about an hour after HBP leaves off, and it does contain HBP spoilers._

_I hope you all enjoy it, please review, I would be happy to hear any feedback on my story._

_This is the revised version of chapter one, so there have been some changes made. The most noticable is that Loki has been given a new name. Until I get caught up on my revising Loki and Hector will be interchangable, but it shouldn't be much longer before that is taken care of._

_For now, enjoy the changes, and keep checking back for further revisions. Updates will be soon to follow, I intend to have this done before _Deathly Hallows

* * *

Calida had her head resting against the window, staring out at nothing in particular. It all seemed very surreal. The compartment was full of her close acquaintances, each of whom she called friends for the sake of simplicity, and her boyfriend of 3 years, Hector. They were all making a good deal of noise, but Calida couldn't really hear any of it, her mind was elsewhere. She knew that in just over 24 hours, her life would change forever.

It was this change that held her attention. She kept envisioning the scenario over and over again in her mind's eye.

"Hey Lida?"

She started at her name and looked over at Rian.

"Do you want to come spend a week at my house with Tuccia and Hector?"

"I can't," she said slowly, and paused before finishing "I'm going to be really busy for a while."

"Lida honey, you haven't seemed yourself since…well…since Dumbledore died. Are you okay? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

The fact was, there were hundreds of things she wanted to talk about, but now was not the time. Dumbledore's death wasn't a surprise to her, and she had had plenty of time to adjust to it before it ever even happened. What she had on her mind lately was something causing her to burst with glee, but for some reason, whenever that happened, she usually came off depressed to her friends. She decided that now wasn't the time to tell them, not just yet.

She cast her mind around and threw out the first thing that came to her, something she reasoned could possibly be depressing.

"I just can't believe we really are leaving. I mean, this has been seven years of our lives, and now it's all over. Next September we won't be getting onto the Hogwarts Express. Do you realize that this could be the last time we ever get to take this train anywhere?"

Everyone laughed. "That's what's bothering you? You're all upset that we have finally graduated, that we are leaving school? You always were an odd little girl," snickered Tuccia.

"I'm not saying I'm not glad we're leaving, it's just a bit sad."

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Rian cut in. "Seven years spent in the dormitories, the common room, eating in the Great Hall, and now it's all over."

"Of course, I'm looking forward to getting on with my life after school," Calida whispered, more to herself than her friends. She could almost feel herself getting a glazed look as she stared out the window again, the scene of tomorrow night once more in her mind.

They let her pass out the rest of the trip in silence. Or rather, she was so lost in her own thoughts that trying to get her attention failed the rest of the way.

It was very dark when they arrived at platform 9 ¾ because they had left late in the afternoon, about an hour after Dumbledore's funeral.

Calida got off the train and hugged her friends good-bye on the platform, promising each of them that she would be in touch soon. She kissed Hector and took out her wand. With a small flick she vanished her luggage and her owl, Arvalis, sending them on home ahead to await her there. Then with one last look at the Hogwarts Express she smiled to herself and disappareted with an inaudible _pop_.

* * *

Calida looked around her room. It was exactly the same as she had left it. There was a very comfortable looking bed covered in black sheets and blankets, an elegant writing desk in the corner, an old chair that resembled a bowl on a pedestal, and a large freestanding mirror framed in very realistic looking black snakes. 

The desk shook slightly, and she guessed that a boggart had moved in over the last several months. She walked over to the desk and opened the drawer. Trying not to look at the gigantic shape emerging from it, she waved her hand impatiently, and with a _crack _the boggart had vanished in a wisp of smoke. Calida had long ago learned to do such simple magic without voice or wand. Her parents had never enforced the 'no underage magic rule' but had taught and encouraged her from the time she could walk and talk.

She made an odd hand gesture at her trunk, which immediately began to unpack and put things away of its own accord, and Arvalis was released from a cage that could no longer be seen. When everything had put itself neatly away, she snapped her fingers and climbed into bed wearing the nightclothes that had appeared at her snap. As excited as she was about what would soon be coming, she fell asleep almost instantly.

* * *

It was late in the morning when she woke up. She knew her parents and her siblings would be downstairs waiting to welcome her home, but just now, she didn't want to leave the warm comfort of her bed. She kept her eyes closed envisioning the events that would take place in a few hours time, when there was a knock on her door. 

Calida opened her eyes and looked suspiciously at her door. She snapped her fingers again and was fully dressed in deep crimson robes.

"Come in," she called as she sat up on the edge of her bed.

The door opened very slowly and she saw a pale pointed face appear in the doorway. She had known Draco at school, he was in the year below her, but they liked to hang out and talk in the common room.

It had been Draco that had found a way to get the Death Eaters inside Hogwarts, it had been Draco that was supposed to kill Dumbledore. He looked very upset, almost as thin and pale as he had been while struggling to fix the Vanishing Cabinet.

The last time had seen Draco his form was barely visible beyond the Hogwarts gates, and almost impossible to see for Harry and Snape dueling in front of them. She gave him a welcoming smile and gestured for him to sit down. Draco hesitated for a moment before falling to his knees on the floor in front of her, rather than sitting beside her.

"Help me, Calida, please. I think I'm in way over my head. He said he would kill me and my family if I didn't do it, and I didn't. It wasn't me it was Snape. What am I supposed to do Calida? Help me." She had never heard this note of urgency in his voice, nor the desperation that was also made plain by the look in his eyes.

Calida stared at him for a moment, searching for any sign of trickery within his mind, and sensing none she took his hand with a warm smile.

"When do you see him next?"

Draco was silent for a long time before he responded very quietly, "Tonight."

This was not unexpected, but she would have given a great deal for Draco to have said anything else.

"I'll see what I can do Draco, but you have to be there, make no changes from the usual ritual. I can't promise any results, but I'll try"

Draco nodded his thanks and left the room silently.

Calida put her head in her hands and sighed. This was what she had been afraid of. She knew Draco and his family were in trouble, and it made sense that he would turn to her.

She stood up and walked over to a blank stretch on her wall and ran her finger over it whispering a single word in parseltongue. She had never mentioned this particular ability to anyone, friend or family. Her family, she knew had descended from the great Salazar Slytherin, though, there was only one person linking her to him, and that person had died some 900 years ago. Such a small and distant connection it was rarely acknowledged outside her own family. However, she cherished this gift, and kept it secret.

At her whisper a door appeared in the wall. She opened the door smirking to herself, remembering that she had created this room when she was only 13, to hide her most precious possessions in.

She reached in and took out a golden cup with a badger on it. Her great-grandfather had given it to her on his Deathbed. He had told her to keep it secret, never to let another soul see or touch it as long as she should live. She knew it was a relic of Helga Hufflepuff, but he had told her that it belonged to the Dark Lord, and if he should ever ask for it, she was not to argue.

Calida frequently went to hold it when she was worried or upset; she felt a sense of comfort and safety when she held it. Almost as if the cup itself was endowed with the ability to assure continued life. Whenever she felt she couldn't go on, holding the cup could always change that.

Calida had taken the cup out many times to feel its comforting power, but something felt wrong this time. The second she touched it she was filled with a sudden dread. Pain shot through her arm and she tried to pull away but it was impossible, she fell to the ground screaming. Surely someone would hear her and come to her aid.

_Please come, _she thought, _please. Someone, anyone, you have to hear me._

Even as she thought these words though, she realized there would be no help, she had set and Imperturbable Charm on the door that would activate every time the door was shut. Calida convulsed with pain, gasping for air until everything went black.

* * *

When she awoke she was dazed and confused, and quite at a loss to understand how she had got on the ground. It was several minutes before her vision cleared enough to see the cup lying several feet away from her. 

Calida propped herself up against her writing desk and tried to catch her breath. It felt like hours went by before she could think of what to do. Slowly she stood up, shaking dangerously as she did. Using her left hand to steady herself, she raised her right. She knew that she was too weak to perform the spells she had decided she must, without the aid of a wand.

Her outstretched hand twitched and her wand appeared in it from thin air. She took a deep breath and concentrated on levitating the cup back to the shelf on which it usually rested, and then placed several protective spells around it.

The outermost spell would require a blood price to pass. The next level of security was a fiery mist that had to be touched in just the right spot with just the right words to avoid something resembling what had happened when Calida had touched the cup. The last layer of protection she put upon it was one that detected power, no matter how old or young the witch or wizard, they would have to possess a certain level of power to pass this barrier. Calida had not worked with that spell enough to know what would happen to those without the power who tried to pass. Finally, she stepped back and sealed the wall, which could only be opened by a parselmouth.

Calida turned and sat on her bed. She knew what she would have to do now, what she would have to ask, what she would have to say. While she was still anxious for the events of the evening, it was now far more bleak than she had thought this time yesterday. She now had two tasks ahead of her, and endeavoring on either could end her life.

Calida raised her head and looked around the room. She muttered a few words and waved her wand in a circle, careful that her wand pointed at each wall, the floor, and ceiling, placing and anti-disapparation jinx on it. She then walked to her door, placed her hand on it, emitting hissing and spitting noises as she did so. She opened the door and did the same to the other side.

Then she smiled knowing that anyone who wished to take the cup would now have to know one word to get in, one word to get the cup, and one word to exit the room, all in parseltongue. Not to mention the other three layers of security. She closed the door and walked down the stairs. Halfway to the dinning room she twirled her wand in her hand and it was gone.

* * *

Calida entered to find her family sitting around the table smiling at her. Her mother jumped up, hugged her, kissed her cheek, and finally led her over to her chair. 

"Now, I've had the elves make you some bacon and eggs for dinner. Yes, I know it's well past breakfast time, but you like them and this is an important day. If you want something else just tell me dear. Have you got yourself all unpacked now? Did you lay out your robes for this evening?" Her mother began combing Calida's hair, and her little sister Tellus giggled.

"Bacon and eggs is fine mum, I unpacked as soon as I got home last night, I have my robes ready, and I am perfectly capable of combing my own hair." Calida replied irritably as she filled her plate.

"Don't worry Calida, mum still thinks I can't take care of myself either," whispered her brother.

"I heard that Atabulus. Now eat your breakfast and keep your mouth shut," she snapped.

"It's dinner time, mum," Atabulus reminded her.

"Hush and eat," mother snapped back. The excitement of the evening was clearly overwhelming to her.

Atabulus rolled his eyes and went back to eating his food. Calida looked over at her father who was reading the _Daily Prophet_.

"Anything interesting?" She asked.

"Two arrests, neither of them are Death Eaters, but they wouldn't report that, of course," he skimmed the paper further. "Let's see here, some woman named Finnigan was found dead last night, work of the Death Eaters. It says she has a son who came home from school with her, but he wasn't found anywhere. They aren't sure if he is still alive or not."

"He probably is," said Atabulus annoyed. "Avery and Nott said someone disapperated the second they showed up. I'd be willing to bet it was him."

Calida smiled at her brother as he shredded a piece of bacon into bits and speared it viciously onto his fork. He was always annoyed if someone died and he didn't get to be there. She wondered if perhaps she would be like that.

She finished her dinner and walked out into the hallway. It was lit with torches mounted onto the smooth stone walls. The flickering quality gave her a pale dead look, and the light seemed to disappear in her eyes, no trace of the bright flames anywhere.

She turned off into a large room on the left. The room was almost as tall as the Great Hall had been. As she stepped in the room was lit from above. Unlike the great hall, this ceiling was bewitched to always show sunlight. There were a few windows on one wall, arches near the very top.

Every wall in the room was filled with shelves and shelves of books. Here and there throughout the room were more freestanding bookshelves covered front and back with more books. She walked over to one that was situated at the end of a very comfortable looking chair that had been well overstuffed for softness.

On the other side of the chair was a small table. She took a large book bound in sleek, black dragon hide off the shelf and sat down in the chair. Calida had read this book many times, it was full of the most basic Dark Arts spells there were. Calida turned to the first page muttering to herself, she would need to know all of this soon, in just 5 hours.

* * *

_Well, there you go. That's chapter one. Chapters two and three should be along very shortly._


	2. The Dark Mark

_Here is chapter two for everyone. I hope you are enjoying the stroy. Please keep reading and giving feedback._

_Again this chapter has been recently revised. Several small changes have been made, again the fact Loki and Hector are interchanged is the most prominant one._

_Please leave reviews letting me know of any further suggestions you have for editing. This is still a work in progress and you're all my proofreaders._

* * *

The clock in the library chimed 10 in deep clear notes. Calida stood up from her chair and snapped her fingers. Instantly she was dressed in long black robes. She walked into the living room where the rest of her family would be waiting, except for Tellus, who would be in bed now. She entered the room to see her mother, father, and brother all smiling at her, all wearing black robes just like hers.

"Ready?" Atabulus asked.

"Yes, is it time?"

"Nearly," said her mother who was beaming at her. The clock chimed a quarter past ten and her parents exchanged a brief look at each other.

"It's time," said her father. He pulled up his hood and disapperated. Her mother and brother followed suit. Calida took one last look around and pulled on her hood smiling to herself as she disapparated.

* * *

Calida appeared in a dark clearing surrounded by woods. She stood back watching others apparate around her. As each one apparated they all fell to their knees and crawled forward to kiss the hem of the robes of a tall, hooded figure. Calida knew who this was, she had met him on several other occasions (most of which she had been too young to remember), but it made him no less intimidating. 

Each person kissed his robes and backed away on their knees before standing up to form a circle. There was a gap in the circle exactly opposite the figure she knew to be the Dark Lord. This would be where she would stand.

Calida walked forward and stepped into the circle, filling the gap for only a moment before falling to her knees. She crawled forward to the very center of the circle, and kept her head down waiting.

"You come, Calida, before me with a request, do you not?" said a high cold voice, as he lowered his hood.

"Yes, my Lord," she replied softly.

"And what, Calida, is your request?"

Calida stared up into his scarlet eyes and responded "I wish to serve you, my Lord."

He gazed back into her eyes; she knew he was checking her mind for any signs of falsification. She did not blink but stared determinedly back, and allowed him to search her thoughts and feelings.

"You will be the sixth in your family to serve me, Calida. They have served me faithfully for many years. I expect no less from you."

"You have my unwavering loyalty, Master. I shall fulfill every command, or I shall perish in the attempt."

"Would you ever renounce me, would you change your ways, should death seem to befall me?"

Several people in the circle shuddered. She knew why. They were the ones who never tried to find their Master when he seemed to be dead. They were the ones who had never served in Azkaban for him.

"Never, my Lord. My mind and flesh shall rot within the walls of Azkaban before I renounce you, or believe that you have truly fallen," she looked once more into his eyes and saw him smile. It was a twisted smile that distorted his snakelike face. She saw his slit like nostrils twitch.

"Your arm, Calida," he said, his soft voice full of malice and amusement.

Calida raised her left arm brining the sleeve of her robe up past her elbow as she did. She dropped her head as he stepped toward her and she felt his long cold fingers close around her wrist. She opened her eyes and gazed at her arm, just below the elbow, and watched as the tip of his wand came closer to her arm and felt a tingling feeling as it touched.

He pulled his wand away but the skin looked the same as ever, there was no Dark Mark visible at all. She looked up at him with a confused expression. An evil smile appeared on his skull white face and he pressed his finger to the spot on her arm, whispering to her the incantation she knew she would use only to set the Dark Mark above the body of her victims.

It seared with pain and she let out a sharp gasp. She knew without thinking about it that she was the only one who felt it, that the Mark would not burn upon the arms of others until the next time he touched it.

Calida looked back at her arm and saw the Dark Mark burned black into her skin. She stared, transfixed for a moment before turning to her new Master. She bent down and kissed his robes with a soft "Thank you, Master, thank you."

She crawled back to make room for the others who were moving forward and falling to their knees as they had done when they arrived. Each Death Eater kissed the robes again, crawled backwards, stood up, and disapparated. Calida knew that she was to be the last to leave, but this suited her, she had questions for her Master.

When the last Death Eater, who she knew to be her brother, had disapperated, she looked up at her Master once more and spoke softly.

"Master," she said, "I wanted to ask you a few questions, please." She hesitated and then added "And I wanted to tell you something, I don't know if it's important, but I feel like you should know."

He looked carefully at her and she felt him searching her mind again. "You will join me," he said finally, "at the house of my father. Come." He held out his hand and pulled her to her feet. Before she had time to register what was happening she found her self standing in a small room lit only by the fire in the hearth.

"Sit," he said gesturing at a chair and taking the one opposite her. She sat down and hoped that she would live to see the sunrise as she did so.

"Master, earlier today Draco Malfoy came to see me."

"Did he now? And what did young Draco have to say?" His serpentine lips were curling into a smile, and she could see the cruel amusement blossoming in his eyes.

"He asked me to speak to you, to ask if you really planned to kill him," she hesitated and added "Do you plan to kill him, Master?"

"I had told him that if he did not kill that muggle loving fool I would kill him, yes. On the other hand, he made it farther than I ever expected him to. It is also true that he found a way to let my Death Eaters enter Hogwarts completely undetected. I will, of course, take that into consideration. I have not decided what to do with Draco yet. Is that all you wished to ask me, or did you plan to try to sway my judgment?" With this his eyes narrowed suspiciously at her.

"No my Lord. I did not wish to try to influence your decision. It is not my place. The decision is yours to make, I am merely keeping my word to a friend. There is something else I wished to discuss with you though, Master."

He eyed her for a moment, she knew he was looking for any trace of attempt to sway him. Finally he nodded to indicate that she could proceed.

"Well…you see…forgive me, my Lord, if I've done something wrong, but my great-grandfather left something of yours in my possession before he died. A cup, a golden cup he said had once belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, but belonged to you now. He told me to guard it, and I have done so, my Lord. But it did something strange today, you see," she was speaking very quickly, she wasn't sure, but she thought she felt anger emanating from him.

"I occasionally hold it, it makes me feel safe and comfortable, but today when I touched it, I felt scared and there was…there was pain, like the Cruciatus Curse. I passed out and when I woke up I put it away under every protective spell I know. I thought that you would want to know, my Lord, as it was yours." She hung her head low and waited for the blow to fall. She was preparing herself to feel the aches of the Cruciatus Curse, or else to feel her life ripped from her body.

"What spells did you use, Calida?"

She was amazed at the gentle tone of his cold voice. She looked up into his eyes and could no longer detect even the faintest trace of anger there. This made her uneasy, she wasn't sure if he was truly no longer angry or if he was now so furious that she could no longer detect it.

"S-s-several, my Lord," she stammered. "It is in a closet in my room, one that I made, that cannot be seen and can only be opened by speaking the proper words in parseltongue. Beyond that, there is a spell that requires a blood price to pass. The next I used is a, well it's a mist, I don't remember where I learned of it, but it has to hear the right words, e-English this time, and must be touched at the right place. If it isn't it resembles the Cruciatus Curse, or that's how I remember it anyways, I'm not sure if-"

"I am familiar with the curse Calida, continue."

"Well, the last one, is a power one, you have to have the right level of power to pass. I haven't worked with it enough to know what happens if you try to pass anyways."

"Are there any other protective spells surrounding it?"

"Yes, my Lord. There is an anti-disapparation jinx on my room. And to enter you have to use a special word in parseltongue, and a different one to exit."

He was silent for sometime, lost in thought as far as she could tell. Finally, he let out a long low hiss that she understood to mean "_Tell me Calida, do you speak parseltongue?_"

Calida took a deep breath and responded. "_Yes, my Lord, but you are the only one that knows._" She heard her own spitting sounds as she spoke, and smiled back at the Dark Lord, who now had a gleam of happiness in his eyes.

"_You have done well Calida. The Dark Lord is pleased. If only Lucius had been as careful with my possessions as you have been. You will be rewarded for this, Calida._"

"_My Lord, thank you. Thank you._" Calida couldn't believe it, not only was she not in trouble, but she was to be rewarded for her actions. She felt a deep sense of pride swelling inside her, but knew that she would tell no one of the conversation that had taken place.

"_You are quite right, Calida. You are to speak to no one of this. Should you be asked, you are to tell them that what the Dark Lord says to you is not of their concern. Now is not the time for you to receive your reward either. You will receive it in due time, Lord Voldemort will provide for you, Calida. You are dismissed._"

Calida kneeled and kissed his robes before standing up. "_Thank you, my Lord,_" she hissed softly, then disapparated.

* * *

Calida appeared in a small empty field surrounded by the smiling faces of those who had been present at her initiation. She smiled back at them and took several steps closer, only to be engulfed by her hugging friends and family. She disentangled herself and looked up at Hector. 

"I told you I would see you soon, didn't I?" she said to him slyly. He smiled and pulled her close kissing her.

"You could have told me you know."

"No I couldn't," she smiled at the shocked look on his face, "I wanted it to be a surprise," she giggled.

"What took so long sis?" her brother asked, thumping her hard on the back.

"I needed a word with the Dark Lord," she said simply.

Her brother opened his mouth to inquire further but was interrupted as their father flicked his wand and a large table laden with food and several very comfortable looking chairs appeared. Calida took her seat at the head of the table. She was familiar with the procedure, though it was her first time participating.

It was something of a tradition to welcome the newest Death Eater to the ranks with a feast, the new servant always taking the seat at the head of the table. Usually the feast would take place at the home of that person, but tonight they were outside. Calida looked up at the sky and noticed the moon was dangerously close to being full.

"Why are we eating outside," she asked while they waited for her to invite them to sit, as was customary.

"It's a nice night, and we know you love the stars. We thought it would be a nice touch, dear," replied her mother sweetly. Calida smiled and gestured for them all to take their seats.

The seat on her left was filled by Hector, which came as no surprise to her. The seat to her right, however, was occupied by a tall, pale blond boy who looked very frightened. Calida knew he was waiting for her to tell him if she had asked the Dark Lord what she had told him she would. His parents filled the next two seats, both looking just as scared as he did. Calida looked away and saw the seats by Hector had been filled by her father, mother, and brother.

Calida had expected all of these people, but there were two people present that she had not noticed before, and one was most unexpected. The first was sitting on the other side of Lucius. Calida recognized the greasy curtains of hair parted around the face of her former Potions Master and Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Severus Snape. Calida smiled and understood why he had been invited, as he was her former teacher. He had even given her private lessons in the Dark Arts while she was still in school.

The person sitting exactly opposite her at the table, she knew by sight and name, but was baffled as to why he had been at her initiation. The initiation process was supposed to be so sacred that only close friends and family were allowed, as the person's name would be used most frequently, it prevented the Death Eaters from being able to name each and every one of their fellows. This man's name she knew was Walden McNair, but she couldn't imagine what he would be doing here.

Calida just smiled at everyone and began to help herself to the feast in front of her. The food was as delicious as any other feast she had ever had. She supposed that her parents had ordered the house elves to prepare the food in advance. Despite the fact that Calida knew her family owned many house elves, she only knew one by the name of Chaka, who had been assigned specifically to watch over and take care of her.

For the first half of the feast everyone remained rather quiet eating, as most of them had not eaten since lunch. Calida looked over and noticed Draco just shoving the food on his plate around with a fork.

"I spoke with him Draco," she said quietly, leaning over so that only he would hear. Draco looked back at her but did not speak. "He said that he is taking everything into account, how far you got in your mission and all, but that he hasn't made a final decision yet."

"What all did you say?" he asked timidly.

"I told him I promised you that I would ask. I said nothing to try to persuade him Draco, I'm not stupid. Just do your best. Follow your orders, Draco, and I think that you'll be fine."

He didn't look at all reassured by this but began to eat rather than prod his food as if it were a slug he caught that refused to move at his will. Talk gradually started up and the dinner foods left the table to be replaced by desserts of every kind. Calida helped herself to all of her favorites.

Everyone at the table seemed to be talking and laughing, even Draco was now talking to Hector about whether it would be possible to use the vanishing cabinets in some other way. Calida looked down at the end of the table and saw McNair staring moodily at his plate of apple pie. She wasn't the only one shooting curious glances at him either, she noticed. Calida dismissed this unusual presence as her father's voice caught her ear.

"So Lucius, how did you and McNair manage your Azkaban escape? I didn't even notice it in the paper," he was saying.

"Well, with the dementors gone, it wasn't that hard. We were heavily guarded, and they snapped our wands of course," here Lucius mumbled something indistinct to her at this distance, "so we had to try some wandless magic to unlock the cells when they weren't looking. As it happened, that didn't work, so McNair suggested that we wait until they opened the doors to feed us and beat the hell out of them."

Calida's father laughed and motioned for Lucius to continue with his story.

"It actually worked too, but then we still had the problem of getting back, we had to dodge a lot of curses when they figured out we were escaping. McNair yelled back to everyone else that we would be back for them then we jumped off the island into the water.

"You wouldn't believe how cold that water is. We had to swim quite a distance before we could apparate back to land, and then not having wands we nearly froze our asses off before we finally caught up with the Dark Lord, who handed us each a wand almost identical to the one we had before.

"Personally, I like this new one better, the dragon whose heartstring is in it was more powerful I think. I was surprised he had it for me, I was expecting death, to be honest."

Calida heard her father ask McNair what he thought of his new wand but McNair only shrugged noncommittally, and she thought she saw his eyes flash angrily at Lucius.

The food disappeared as everyone finished eating. Calida stood up and everyone else followed suite. Her father waved his wand again and the table and chairs all vanished. Everyone moved closer into a small huddle to say their goodbyes and congratulations.

"I expect great things from you, Calida," she turned to see her former teacher. She supposed he was smiling but it seemed to come off as more of a smirk. She concentrated and tried to search him for any hint of sarcasm or mocking, but found none. Calida wasn't entirely sure that it was because Snape was such a good occlumens, or if he was really sincere.

McNair came forward and shook her hand quickly before disapparating. Everyone else was preparing to follow when a loud _BANG _shook the night. Calida noticed that everyone's hands instinctively flew to their wands and to bring their hoods up. Calida did neither, but stepped forward to face the entourage of Aurors approaching them with their wands out.

"Calida!" she recognized Hector's voice and held out her hand to silence him.

Calida turned back to one of the Aurors. She recognized him as Gawin Robards, and knew him to be the new Head of the Auror Office, and so she set her sights on him.

He motioned for the others with him to apprehend her fellow associates. Calida knew they could take care of themselves so she didn't spare a second thought for them.

Robards drew back his wand and prepared to bellow a spell at her, but she was ready. Before he had even finished the incantation she had flung out her hand and yelled "_Rictusempra!_" Calida smiled to herself watching as he struggled to utter the incantation that would release him from the spell.

Robards stood up panting. "You play childish games, do you? I thought you and your friends were supposed to be experts with the Dark Arts, and yet you choose an elementary spell? You're a fool then. Calida was it?"

He smirked and raised his wand again.

Calida could feel the cold hatred that rose within her at his words. She was not a child, and so she wouldn't play games with him any longer. If he wanted to see the Dark Arts, then he would face the Dark Arts.

Calida screamed "_Cruci_o" into the night and a jet of light shot from the palm of her hand.

Robards was hit, dead center in the chest, and collapsed shrieking and twitching on the ground. It was Calida's turn to smirk as she stepped closer, watching him jerk uncontrollably. She twitched her hand upwards and he stopped screaming.

With another twitch of her fingers, his wand flew from his side and landed several feet away. He tried to sit up but Calida placed her toes just under his breastbone and pressed, watching him struggle for air.

"You think I play childish games? You think that you can beat me? Well let me catch you up then, Robards. You are nothing. I am a servant of the Dark Lord, and you are blocking his way to power. Do you know what I do to those who displease the Dark Lord?"

She paused for a moment as if waiting for an answer, but knew the pressure she was putting on his chest would keep him from doing so. She giggled softly at his vain attempts to pry her foot from his diaphragm before softly answering herself.

"I make sure they're dead."

Calida searched her memory for the perfect spell to do it, she wanted to make sure people knew she was faithful, that she took her job seriously and was not some child playing a game. She remembered a spell that Severus had taught her, and an evil glow seemed to light her face.

Calida raised her hand, holding the wand that had appeared only seconds before. She stepped back off Robards' chest. Before he could even make a move to stand up she called "_Sectumsempra!_" and brought her wand down to slash his face, neck and chest in a sort of sideways V.

Blood spurted from the deep wounds that had appeared, soaking his robes and the ground around him. She stood watching the life slip from his body, enjoying the gurgled gasps for air as he held his hands to his bleeding throat, until at last she was sure he was dead.

Calida turned to see the rest of the battle. Only her parents and Snape were still fighting, the rest of the group it seemed had disapperated. Spells were being shot off in every direction from a haze of smoke, and Calida ran forward to aid them. She hadn't taken three steps when those remaining from the group of Aurors vanished from sight.

The smoke drifted off and she looked at the three faces before her. All of them were sweaty and seemed amazed she was still there.

"What happened?" she asked.

"They got Atabulus. They took him to Azkaban. Don't worry," her mother added seeing her look of panic, "he's safe. I'm sure he'll be back with us soon enough."

The confidence in her mother's voice calmed her.

"And the others?"

"They took off pretty quick; we assured them we could handle it. Hector said he would be waiting for you at home. He wants to be positive that you're ok," said her father gently.

Both her mother and father were looking at her with some concern. Only her former professor seemed aware of what she had done, for he was smiling more broadly than she had thought him capable of.

"And what happened with you, Calida," he asked silkily.

Calida knew instinctively that he already knew the answer to this question, but decided to humor him anyways.

"I fought with Gawin Robards," she started slowly. She heard her parents both draw breath at the same time.

"And?" Snape asked, his voice slick with cruel amusement.

"He's back there," she pointed her wand in the direction where the body was lying.

Calida turned and walked off toward it, still clutching her wand. She stopped and heard her mother gasp behind her. Turning to face her mother she saw the smile the woman was wearing. Her father had an identical smile on his face, and Snape was wearing a look of triumph. Calida knew he had recognized the spell as one he had invented. Her parents both embraced her in a tight hug.

"We'll see you at home," said her father. Then both he and her mother turned and disapperated.

Calida turned to face Snape.

"I'll see you soon, I'm sure," he said. "You did well, Calida. Set the Dark Mark before you leave," and he too disapperated.

Calida stood alone in the field next to the mutilated body that had once been an excellent Auror. She took a deep breath and smirked.

"Call me a child will you." She spat contemptuously at the body before her feet. She raised her wand pointing it directly above her and spoke the incantation

"_Morsmordre!_"

A large shining skull with a snake protruding from its mouth erupted from the tip of her wand. It raised high into the air, growing as it went. The glistening green image stopped directly above the body of the Auror, marking the spot so that all would surely see it and find him.

Calida twisted her wand in her fingers and it was gone. She stepped back and took one last look at the body, basked in a sickly green glow, and then up at the mark in the sky. Then in a swish of her robes, she was gone.

* * *

_Chapter 3 should be revised and updated within the next couple of days. I still have every intention finishing all revisions within the week._


	3. Serpents and Gold

* * *

_Ok, I got chapter three all proof read and edited. I hope you have been enjoying the story. _

_Chapter 3 is now revised. There have been some subtle changes to it, but nothing too intense. I'm planning on this revision process being a rather quick one, so that I can catch the big issues before I start on chapter 9. Suggestions are more than welcome, and please point out any gramatical issues you see._

* * *

Calida sank onto the couch next to Hector and smiled. She wasn't sure if he was hugging her because he was glad she made it or because her parents had filled him in on what had happened. Either way, she was glad he was here. He brushed her hair back out of her eyes and she giggled.

"So did they tell you everything?"

"No, they said you were fine and that it was your story to tell, not theirs. So what happened? They made me leave you know," he cast an aggravated glance at her parents and turned back to hear her story.

"Well, that Auror, Robards was his name I think, he tried to curse me, so I hit him with the Laughing Charm. He said I was playing childish games and that he expected more from the people who were supposed to be masters of the Dark Arts," she said calmly, even though his taunt about being childish still stung.

"So what did you do to that son of a bludger?" Hector inquired.

Calida noticed that her parents were both listening intently to her story, as well. "Well, I put him under the Cruciatus Curse, naturally. I disarmed him and stood on his chest, and when the time came I used a spell that Severus taught me," she said. "It was no big deal really," but she couldn't keep herself from smiling.

Her mother burst into tears and sobbed into her father's shoulder. "Our little baby girl," she wailed, "all grown up and serving the Dark Lord. I'm just so proud of her."

Triton patted his wife on the back chuckling softly. "You know, Helena, I think most Death Eaters don't burst into tears because someone died. I could be wrong of course, but I don't think I am."

Everyone laughed and her mother wiped her eyes.

"Sorry, I'm just so proud. We've worked so hard to raise her, and now she's all grown up and everything we had hoped she would be. You're right though. I've just been so emotional lately. I'll pull myself together, don't you worry about me."

"I think you need some rest. Come on, let's go up to bed," her father helped her mother up and started to walk toward the door.

"Oh, and Calida, wake us when your brother gets home. Hector, don't stay too late, I'm sure your parents miss you, too," he gave one last proud smile to his daughter before turning and sweeping his wife into his arms and climbing the stairs.

Calida cuddled up with Hector on the sofa to wait for Atabulus. She was sure her parents were right, he had never been one to spend much time in Azkaban, and Merlin knows they tried to lock him up there all the time.

Her brother had been so excited when the Dark Lord rose, and for the last year he was thrown in and broke out of Azkaban at least once a month. He seemed to have made a game of it.

She laid there for a while, until Hector said he had better go. She kissed him good-bye and lay back down. She could stay awake a little longer; surely Atabulus would be home soon. She closed her eyes. She would just rest her eyes, that was all, Atabulus would be home soon.

She was flying through the air on a Firebolt. The wind whipped at her face and the rain stung her cheeks. She looked around trying to find her teammates, but the rain poured down on all sides of her. The Firebolt began to squirm; it was a large black snake.

She fell through the air holding the writhing snake in her hands. There was a soft _thump_ as she landed on the ground. Calida turned to look for the snake, it had to have been twelve feet long, surely it hadn't gotten too far away. It wasn't anywhere in sight.

A gold ring with a cracked black stone and a serpentine S on it was lying next to her. There was something vaguely familiar about it. Calida was sure she had seen it before. She reached out to pick it up when _pop_!

Calida awoke with a start. Atabulus was sitting across from her with a smug look on his face. She jumped up and ran to get her parents without saying a word to her brother. He was still sitting there when they returned, looking just as he always did after living some spectacular story or another. She sat down in a chair off to the side and let her parents have the sofa across from Atabulus.

"You want to know how I did it this time, don't you?" he said.

Calida detected a large amount of arrogance in that statement.

"Of course we do, your fascinating escapes never cease to amaze us," she said trying to give off an air of reverence.

Atabulus smirked and made a rude hand gesture at her, at which point her mother scoffed and glared at her son.

"Well, if you must know, I guess I'll tell you," he sighed.

Calida really did like his stories, but he was always so conceded about them. She sat trying not to look too interested, but merely like she was listening politely.

"Right, so they all showed up and we started fighting. Well, I was dueling with Alinger and Naylor, when Spalding snuck up behind me and put me in the Full Body Bind. The three of them grabbed me and disapparated. We showed up at the apparation safe point on the island that Azkaban sits on. It's always heavily guarded, but I think they have upped security a little since Lucius and McNair got out. They searched me and went to take my wand, as is regulation of course, but luckily I had a hold of my wand so tightly that they had to lift the Body Bind curse for them to get it."

Calida could tell he was really enjoying this story, and she was just thinking of how sure she was that his "Quidditch Reflexes" as he called them, were about to come into play.

"Well, I was lucky then. You know how I've always had good reflexes from Quidditch, well, before they could make a move toward my wand, I stunned the closest one. They all pointed their wands at me, there were about 10 of them left now, and I knew it would take quick thinking to get out of this one.

"They all started sending stunning and disarming spells at me, but I dodged them and used a nice Shield Charm that rebounded several of the stunners. That right there took out about 4 of them. There was a loud BANG from inside the prison at that point, but I didn't have time to look and see what happened.

"Three of them took off to take care of whatever had just happened. The last three were Naylor, Alinger, and some other Auror that I've never met, probably a new guy. Well Naylor and Alinger kept their distance, they've fought me a few times you know, but the new guy just kept shooting spell after spell at me, and I just brushed them off.

"It started getting annoying because Alinger and Naylor were both taking advantage of the distraction he was causing and kept trying to get my while my back was turned to them. I sent a Killing Curse at that irritating little guy, he either wasn't smart enough, or wasn't fast enough to dodge it. It hit him anyways, dead on target.

"He flew like 10 feet and landed on Naylor, who started screaming wildly; she never did deal with death well. Anyways, Alinger ran over to help her out. I took the opportunity to set the Dark Mark and then disapparated before they caught me.

"I went back to the field to see if you all were still there dueling, but all I saw was the Dark Mark in the air. That told me all I needed to know," he got up and walked over to pat Calida hard on the back, catching her completely off guard.

"I knew it had to be my baby sis that did it, so I came straight here and found her sleeping on the couch." He smiled at them all impressively, waiting for applause or looks of awe.

"How did you know it was me who did it?" she asked him.

To her surprise he smiled at her as though she were overlooking the most obvious thing in the world.

" Cali, Lida, Sis, you were fighting way off from everyone else with the Head of the Auror Office when they took me. It was clear where the rest of us had been fighting, and that's not where the Mark was. What else was I supposed to think? You got scared and ran off, that someone else did the dirty work for you? No, Sis, I know you better than that, I knew it had to be you." He smiled at her, as a big brother, proud of his sister for what she had done.

Calida gave him a hug, and then her parents, and said she needed to get to bed, and that she would be staying in the guest room across the hall from the library tonight. No one thought this odd; she frequently stayed across from the library if there was something she wanted to study. She hoped they would surmise as much this time. The real reason she was staying there was because she had now protected her own room so heavily, and did not want to risk another incident with the cup.

She stepped in the room and looked around sighing. She took out her wand and waved it around the room. The furniture already there disappeared and furniture resembling her own took its place, though she had added a beautiful armoire for her clothing. It matched her desk, mirror, bed and chair perfectly. She flicked her wand again placing an Imperturbable Charm like the one on her old room, on this one. Her wand disappeared with a twirl of her fingers and she changed clothes with a snap.

Calida slipped between the warm sheets on her bed and looked out at the moon visible through her window. It would be a full moon in a few days time she knew, and she hoped that she wouldn't have to be out in it. She turned on her side and drifted comfortably to sleep.

* * *

Calida spent the next several days in the library learning new and reviewing old spells of the Dark Arts. Her family was, and always had been as far as she knew, quite wealthy. The library was full of books that had been passed down generation to generation from both her mother and father's sides of the family. It was at least as vast as the Hogwarts library, but mostly full of books about the Dark Arts. 

Calida reviewed spells that would blister the skin, increase strength, block off the airways, and cause instant insanity. These she was familiar with. She had conjured a large cage full of rats on which to practice.

She practiced making potions that she might need to know, a number of poisons and their antidotes, the Polyjuice Potion, and some that caused the drinker to sprout extra parts (which usually acted as more of a hindrance than a help, as it seemed to take a long time to get the hang of using three arms rather than two).

Finally, she vanished the cage of rats, several of which were now dead or severely disfigured, and decided it was time to learn something new.

Calida walked over to a shelf and pulled of a large dusty book. She could feel the Dark Magic flowing through its pages. This was a very dangerous book, but she had been taught to use it at an early age. Calida sat down at the desk rather than in her comfy chair, this was not a book to cozy up with.

She pricked her finger with a needle and placed her hand on the cover of the book. She felt the magic wrap around her hand and she whispered the word that would allow her to open it. The tingling of the protective spells lingered as she opened to the first page.

The words seemed to swim until she touched the pages with her still bleeding finger. Calida flicked through the pages taking in the spells. She read for some time about the legends of werewolves. It told of the effects of transformed and non-transformed bites, and how if the werewolf frequently bit people in its transformed state, it would develop a taste for human flesh all month long.

She smirked and thought of Fenrir Greyback. Calida had met Fenrir before, both times she was much younger and both times he had sniffed her and said she smelled 'like a delicious child' before her father had drug him off to the den to discuss matters she knew nothing about.

Calida stopped at the top of a very short section entitled "Of Horcruxes." She had never heard of Horcruxes before, and she knew there were very few topics in this library that she hadn't at least heard of, so she read on;

_The Horcrux is some of the darkest magic known to wizard kind. The use of a Horcrux is believed to make one immortal. When making a Horcrux, the witch or wizard must commit the 'act of ultimate evil', more commonly referred to as murder. _

_ Committing a murder will cause the soul to tear into two pieces for a short time. Once this rift has occurred, should the witch or wizard so desire, half of the soul can be harnessed and placed inside an object of the witch or wizard's choosing. _

_As long as a portion of the soul remains undestroyed, it is said to make the witch or wizard immortal. Their body may be destroyed, but the soul within the body cannot be destroyed unless all portions remaining outside it are destroyed first. _

Calida read the small bit several times. She never knew that it was possible for someone to be so close to immortality. Though, the Dark Lord was questing for immortality, perhaps she would mention this to him on their next meeting.

She thought that the shredding of the soul sounded rather painful, but if she understood the passage right, it happened every time you murdered, and the soul could return to its whole state if half of it wasn't harnessed. She glanced over the page looking for the harnessing spell, but it was no where to be seen. Calida remembered her parents telling her how with this book it would conceal as much information as possible, and the more dangerous the spells, the harder they would be to find.

Calida shuddered and flipped several more pages. She was just about to start a chapter on restorative potions when it happened. Calida jumped in excitement, she had felt it, for the first time.

She pulled up her sleeve and looked at the Dark Mark that had just burned black once more upon her arm. She slammed the book shut and stood up, snapping her fingers to change into her Death Eater's robes, and disapparated.

She appeared in a brightly lit clearing that closely resembled the one where her initiation took place. Calida joined the line and proceeded with the ritual that always took place at the beginning of a meeting. She stood up into her spot in the circle and smiled, though no one could see it.

"My friends, welcome," came the cold voice of the Dark Lord. "There is much that must be done today."

Slowly he began to walk around the circle, motioning for people to step either forward from the line, back from the line, or else they stayed put. When he passed Calida, he motioned her to the very center of the circle, away from all three of the forming lines.

She nodded quickly and obeyed, wondering why she had been singled out. She looked around at the others, attempting to recognize them by their eyes, but was having no luck, when another figure joined the center of the circle next to her.

Finally there were three perfectly formed lines, almost equal in numbers. The Dark Lord surveyed them closely for a moment. Calida got the impression that he knew each person's name despite the fact that only their eyes were visible through the slits in their hoods.

The Dark Lord nodded and motioned for her and the figure next to her to follow him. He led them just out of earshot of the others. As they walked, she thought the flow of the black robes next to her was vaguely familiar.

The Dark Lord turned to face her. "Calida, Severus here," he motioned at the man standing next to her, "has given me information that leads me to believe that other possessions of mine may be in danger. Have you seen anything that could either confirm or deny the information he has provided me?"

Calida was slightly startled by the question. He seemed to expect her to just know his possessions when she saw them. Her first thought was that it would be impossible, and then something floated to the surface of her memory. She recalled a visit to the Headmaster's office at the beginning of the school year. When she had entered the office she had just had time to register the serpentine S on a gold-and-black ring before it was snatched up off the table and disappeared. She recalled that S from her years of study, but wasn't positive of its meaning.

"I-I believe I may have some confirmation, my Lord, but I would have to look into it before I can say for sure," she felt very uneasy, she had only been a Death Eater for a few days and had now already met with the Dark Lord about his personal possessions twice.

"Very well, Calida, you are to find out if the information you believe you hold is valid and report back to me as soon as you know. Severus will aid you should you require it. You are both dismissed."

Calida allowed her former professor to go through the ending ritual first, as he possessed a higher rank than she did. She glanced briefly back to see that the Dark Lord was now discussing something with just one of the remaining three groups, and disapparated.

* * *

She was back in her library pulling book after book down off the shelves. She set them all on the desk and looked at the immense pile she had now collected. It would take at least days, if not weeks, to look through all these books. 

She flopped down into a chair and started flipping through the pages on a book entitled "Ancient Symbols and Their Meanings." After finding nothing in that book she started to look through "The Dark Arts and Jewelry", then "The Lasting Marks of Ancient Spells", and "Engraving the Dark Arts Into Your Life". After several hours she finally turned the last page of "The Purple Book: A Wizards Guide to Buying and Selling Their Valuables".

She tossed the book on top of the pile of books she had now checked with a sigh and suddenly thought that she could have hit herself. _Of course_, she thought as she slapped her hand to her forehead.

Calida ran to the stone hearth in the living room, igniting a fire as she ran. She grabbed a pinch of floo powder off the mantle and threw it into the flames. The fire suddenly turned emerald and she stepped in them. She felt the familiar warm tingling feeling and decided that it would be best to arrive at "Diagon Alley," and she was gone.

After several seconds spent rotating in the Floo Network, Calida emerged from the fire in a run-down looking boarding pub called the Leaky Cauldron. She waved to the barman, Tom, and exited into the back. She pulled her wand from thin air and tapped the appropriate bricks to enter. As the archway formed she quickly snapped her fingers, changing into her crimson robes, as she had just realized she was still dressed like a Death Eater.

She walked down the cobbled street, trying to quickly blend in as several witches and wizards ran out of the pub after her. She silently cursed herself for forgetting to change before arriving. Calida turned her attention back to the street, and saw that many shops were boarded up and the ones that weren't had blown up versions of the Ministry safety pamphlets sent out last summer, or pictures of escape Death Eaters.

Calida smiled as she saw her brother's picture in one of the shop windows and wondered if the family resemblance would cause problems for her now that she was out of school. The street was almost deserted and with all the windows covered in posters, there wasn't much to look at, so she walked on quickly.

She was stopped three times by wandering peddlers. The first had tried to sell her a "Dark Mark Detector" which was supposed to emit a loud whistle if someone who had conjured the Dark Mark at some point in their life was near. The second was an amulet that would protect from werewolves, inferi, and dementors. The third peddler was trying to sell the most ludicrous item Calida had ever seen. It was a squat little old witch in bright orange robes carrying a tray that bore a sign reading "Protective Slugs: Just eat one and your enemies can't touch you". Calida had a difficult time shaking this old lady off; she kept insisting that if a werewolf tried to bite you after you ate one it would implode.

Calida was almost to the end of the street when a bright flashing sign caught her eye. Last year when she bought her school supplies this sign, which was hanging in the window of a store called Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes, had read "Why are you worrying about you-know-who? You should be worrying about u-no-poo, the constipation sensation that's gripping the nation." This year the twins who owned it seemed to come up with something new as it now read;

Getting bored of hearing about the Dark Lord?

Then come on in for a new Bewitched Sword.

They're fast as lighting and you can practice fighting.

(Or sick them on your friends)

Calida laughed to herself. She remembered the twins from school. They had always had a good sense of humor, and were still regarded as something of a legend for the way they left school about mid-way through their seventh year.

She walked on and turned the corner at Gringotts Bank, where it seemed that the line to get in was wrapped around the building, and walked down a dark street that had been dubbed Knocturn Alley, by the sign hanging back at the corner. The street seemed to be deserted, and most of the shops looked closed.

Calida stopped in front of a large store with a sign that informed the passersby that it was called Borgin and Burkes. The door opened with a soft tinkle and she stepped inside the shop. She had been in here only twice before, but both times she had not been allowed much of a chance to look around, and so she was itching to do so.

Luckily, though, this thought was wiped from her mind as a man she recognized as Mr. Borgin walked up to the counter. He was a stooped man who greeted her with a voice almost as oily as his hair.

"Good afternoon, Miss. How may I assist you?"

"Afternoon, Borgin. I came to inquire about a ring. I was wondering what information you could tell me about it," she said curtly.

Borgin held out his hand, but Calida merely smiled.

"I don't have the ring with me, sorry."

"Well how am I supposed to tell you what I know about it," he replied with a very annoyed voice.

"I can describe it to you in perfect detail, Borgin. The ring I speak of is gold with a black stone set into it. On the stone there is a small symbol of a serpent-like S."

She knew that most people would have missed the look that flashed across his face, but Calida had had too many years of experience at watching people for signs that they were hiding something. As a result, she saw quite plainly the look of pure glee that crossed his face.

Calida waited for a moment before adding "Today, Mr. Borgin, I'm in something of a hurry."

"I have heard tell of a ring fitting that description, Miss. We once sold a locket that was very similar to a Miss Hephzibah Smith, but she was robbed and we never got it back, unfortunately." Calida made an impatient sort of noise and he continued. "The S, should it not be a forgery, is the mark of Salazar Slytherin. If you would bring it in to me, I could perform a few simple spells and tell you for sure if it once belonged to him. I would, of course, be willing to offer a fair price for it," he nodded politely at her.

"No, I'm sorry; I can't bring it in for you. Thank you for your help, Mr. Borgin," she responded swiftly and left the shop before he could say another word.

* * *

Calida paced around her library thinking. _If it was the ring that belonged to Salazar Slytherin, then it definitely belonged to the Dark Lord_, she thought. _Then that means that Dumbledore stole it from him. And if he did, where did it go?_

She pulled down a large book of wizarding genealogy and flipped through trying to find where the Dark Lord had grown up. If what she had seen really wasn't the ring, then surely she could find it at his ancestor's house. Finally, she found what she was looking for. She pulled on her traveling cloak and was gone again.

* * *

Calida was standing next to a path that was overgrown with brush. In the distance she could barely make out a sign that informed her she was very near to a town called Little Hangleton. She pulled out her wand and walked off down the path blasting the brambles out of her way. 

There was a small house that was almost completely destroyed. At this distance, Calida couldn't tell if it was the work of nature or magic. She cautiously stepped forward and a small door came into view. For a second she wasn't sure what she was seeing, but with another step she realized that there was a skeleton of a snake hanging from a nail on the door. The skeleton was chipped and looked as if it would crumble into dust if someone opened the door, so she guessed it had been there for quite some time.

Very carefully, Calida approached the door. She reached out her hand and an angry hissing noise met her ears. She spun around and found at least a hundred adders slithering towards her. She could just barely make out phrases like 'be gone' and 'you are not welcome' from all the hissing.

"_Stop!_" she commanded, and they did so. She was suddenly struck by an idea. These snakes had obviously lived here for quite some time, and surely they wouldn't let everyone else pass but her.

"_I come here on a quest. I seek something from within these walls. I wonder, has someone beaten me to it?_" she turned to address a particularly large male. "_Can you tell me, has anyone else been here? Perhaps recently?_"

"_Yes, there was someone here. Around a year ago,_" the elderly adder replied slowly.

"_Can you tell me what they looked like,_" she inquired.

"_He was tall. Lots of long white hair. That was all we saw,_" he said with finality.

"_Thank you very much for you time,_" she said, and turned to walk off.

"_Be careful,_" the snakes called after her. She smiled at them and nodded. As she walked off she heard calls of 'powerful' and 'bad wizard' coming from them.

Calida giggled trying to imagine what kinds of things Dumbledore must have done to scare them so badly.

* * *

Sometime later she found herself facing the gates of Hogwarts. She knew she wouldn't be allowed to cross them. She was just turning to walk off when a voice met her ears. 

"Calida? Calida, is that you?" came the sharp voice of her former transfiguration teacher, who would now be Headmistress.

Calida turned and saw Professor McGonagall walking up the road from Hogsmead. She smiled and nodded. A look of immense relief crossed the woman's face. Calida noticed that she looked much older and more distressed than she had ever seen her.

"What brings you all the way back her, Miss Aderas?" McGonagall inquired with a stern look.

Calida put on a look of sincere grief. "I was just wondering, Professor, if Professor Dumbledore's belongings had been distributed yet," she small stifled sob as if the matter was greatly distressing to her. Of course, she was distressed, just not for the reasons she was hoping McGonagall would believe.

"I never had the impression the two of you were that close."

"Well, we weren't, but, well," she tried to make herself blush, "Whenever I was in trouble and in his office, he had this ring that I really loved, he used to say that maybe someday, once I'd graduated, that he might give it to me."

"I'm not aware of any ring," she said. "If he possessed it, then it was not there when we searched his office. I'm sorry Calida," she added.

Calida nodded and turned to walk down the street. She glanced back and thought she saw the old woman wipe her eyes on the sleeve of her robes. Calida smiled to herself, wiping the tears out of her own eyes. Her eyes never failed to water when she pretended to be upset. She was pleased with her convincing behavior, but disappointed that it had yielded nothing. Calida turned down a small side road, watching the occasional villager skirt quickly from one building to another.

A little ways down the street she turned into a small pub called The Hog's Head. She noticed a beautiful black snake that was sitting curled up underneath the sign, and wondered who it belonged to, or else why such a large snake had slithered into Hogsmead. The pub was usually dark with a strong smell of goats, but it was quieter here than in Three Broomsticks and she needed to think.

She ordered and paid for a glass of fire whiskey and walked off to a seat in the corner, away from the other strange guests here. Calida sat sipping her drink and staring around, as if the answer might be written on the walls.

After a while she found herself watching the bartender, and wondering why he looked so familiar. She drained the last few drops from her bottle, got up and took a seat at the bar, right in front of where the old man stood. He looked at her but didn't say anything, so she ordered another whiskey and gave the man his three sickles. She sat for a moment, and finally decided to ask him.

"Were you at Professor Dumbledore's funeral?" she said softly, looking him directly in the eyes.

He nodded curtly and started wiping the counter furiously with a very dirty rag. Calida wasn't sure it was doing any good; she suspected he was actually making it dirtier with the rag.

"How did you know him?" Again, she stared right into his blueish eyes.

The man was silent for a long time and finally he said, so softly he had to lean closer to hear him, "He was my brother."

Now she knew why he looked familiar. He did resemble his brother, but not closely enough that they could easily be distinguished as family. She gave him a small nod and a look of sadness before turning his head away from her.

"Sir, could I ask you something?" she thought she would be pushing her luck, but she had to try anyways. She didn't wait for a response of any kind, but pressed on. "See, Professor Dumbledore occasionally spoke to me in his office. He had this ring that I really loved, and he said that, maybe, someday I could have it. Well, as it turns out, no one knows where it is. I was wondering if you might," she finished.

The man looked at her in mild surprise and muttered that he didn't know anything about a ring. Calida had expected this, and even as he said it, she caught a flash of the very ring she was searching for in her mind's eye. It was on a shelf behind the counter. She saw his eyes dart to the exact spot as she saw the image in her mind's eye.

Calida didn't say another word, but drank in silence for several minutes before getting up and leaving. The sun was casting an orange glow on the sky, and clouds were drifting in lazily from the east. Calida took a seat in the grass by the snake. She whispered to herself all the ways that she might be able to get it, but each seemed unlikely.

She knew that she could have waited until after nightfall, but tonight was the full moon, and she didn't want to risk that Fenrir or one of his acquaintances might be near by, or wherever she would end up going. Calida let out a frustrated groan and put her head in her hands. She was about to get up and walk away when she heard a soft voice hissing in her ear.

"_I wish I could help you,_" it said. Calida saw the beautiful black snake eyeing her with a look of concern. Something seemed a little off about her, but her intentions were honest. Calida looked back at the snake and thought.

"_Maybe you can help me,_" she said. "_All you would have to do is get something for me._"

"_What do I have to get…and how?_" the snake hissed back.

"_There is a gap in that door there. If you went in, there would be a long counter. Go behind it. On the bottom shelf, in the very center, is a gold-and-black ring with a cracked stone and an S on it. Do you think you could get it for m_e?"

Calida wasn't so sure why she trusted this particular snake so, but she had a familiar feel to her.

The snake nodded and slithered off. It was several long minutes before the snake returned, and Calida saw, with a look of relief, that she had her tail curled around a golden ring. The snake slithered right up to her and dropped the ring into her lap. Calida picked it up and looked at it. It was the ring alright; she had seen Dumbledore with it. She could tell, just by touching it, that it had indeed belonged to Salazar Slytherin.

"_Thank you,_" Calida said, turning to face the snake. "_Thank you. I-, this means a lot to me…_" Calida paused wishing she knew the snake's name.

"_Nagini,_" came the soft hiss of the snake, almost as if it could read her mind. "_Just Nagini. And you don't need to thank me,_" and the snake slithered away.

Calida sat there in the setting sun, the now red glow illuminating her face, she was a fairly beautiful girl, but this light suited her much better than any other. Lights of other shades tended to make her look either like a vampire, or else, like she was dead.

She stared off over the trees watching the sun set and twirling the ring around her fingers. There was something odd about that snake; she just couldn't quite put her finger on it.

* * *

_Yay for developing plot. Calida has a lot of suprises in store up ahead. Please read and review. I want to hear what you all think! I hope to get chapter 4 up for you in the next couple of days. _

_The chapter 4 revision will be along very shortly. The revision process is doing me good, some of my notes are starting to make sense to me again._


	4. The Order of the Phoenix

* * *

_Alright, I worked on chapter 4 all day. I'm having alot of fun writing this, I hope everyone is enjoying reading it. I will try to keep updating as quickly as I can. Please review and let me know what you all think._

* * *

Calida lay in bed looking up at the ceiling. She was desperately hungry, as she hadn't eaten anything all day, but she couldn't get up. Every part of her body ached, her head was pounding and spinning, and her palms were cut and bloody; she didn't have the energy to cast the simple healing spell that was needed.

She had returned the ring to the Dark Lord and explained how she came across it. Calida had heard stories of what it was like to witness the Dark Lord when he was truly angry, but the stories, she decided, had never quite developed enough to convey the actual event.

She wasn't entirely sure what all had transpired, nor how she had gotten home. She remembered that he had destroyed several pieces of furniture before turning his wand on her. She knew he wasn't angry with her, but he had certainly taken his anger out on her.

Calida carefully propped herself up on her pillows. She was exhausted, but sure she had been either asleep or unconscious for some time. Looking at her hands, she realized that they were full of splinters of wood, and it looked as if she had clawed her palms herself.

Slowly, she began pulling out the splinters. Several of them were in deep enough that she started bleeding again when she took them out. After several long minutes of laboring carefully over her palms, and stopping frequently since looking down made her dizzier, there were no more traces of wood. Once she got her energy back it would be simple enough to heal herself.

Calida reached up to scratch her head; it had been itching since she woke up. It stung and so she pulled her hand away, apparently her head was bleeding too. She sighed, figuring she must have hit her head on something while she was under the Cruciatus Curse.

Her parents had come home in the same shape she was in now before. They had told her many times when she would laugh that they couldn't remember what happened, that it's hard to control your actions when you're being tortured. She hadn't really understood that until now.

It wasn't like she hadn't been under the Cruciatus Curse before, her parents had occasionally used it as punishment when she was a child, but this was much worse; she must have been under it for longer than she would have thought possible from her childhood memories.

She decided that a shower would do her some good, so she got carefully out of bed. After almost collapsing when she stood up, and finally having to sit down part-way through her shower, she was clean and feeling a little better; she was thinking more clearly at any rate.

Calida fell onto her bed and got comfortable. "Chaka," she called. There was a loud _crack_ and a small creature appeared next to her bed. Chaka was a very tiny little house elf with a long thin nose and bright blue eyes. She wore a small tea-towel like a toga. Chaka had been with the family as far back as Calida could remember, and knew that she was there to serve Calida; she had been Calida's babysitter when she was young.

She always tried to be kind to Chaka. She saw how Lucius Malfoy had treated poor Dobby, and she always felt sorry for the elf when she saw his eyes watering in pain after Lucius repeatedly stepped on Dobby when he wasn't paying attention.

"Chaka," she said softly, "I'll take my dinner up here tonight."

"Yes, Mistress. What would you like for your supper Mistress?" said the elf in a high squeaky voice.

"Some fried chicken and mashed potatoes, would be nice. You know how I like them. What time is it, Chaka?"

"Yes, Mistress. Chaka will get right on it Mistress. It is three in the morning, Miss," said the elf happily.

Calida thanked the elf and sent her on her way to start dinner. It wasn't much longer that her dinner was brought to her by Chaka and she had finished it a short while later. She laid her head back on her pillows and drifted off to sleep, hoping she wouldn't be so sore when she woke up.

* * *

Calida guessed it to be shortly after noon when she next awoke. The sun was shining through a gap in her curtains and gave the room a brilliant glow. She got up out of bed cautiously, afraid she might drop to the floor if she wasn't yet recovered. She felt the soft carpet on her feet and was reassured that she had somewhat recovered over night. Her body still ached and each joint felt stiff. She was sure her back and sides were bruised. 

After changing into her robes, without using magic, she took out her wand and touched it gently to each hand and her head whispering a healing spell. Calida watched as the wounds healed and put her wand in her pocket, smiling to herself.

Rather than going to see the rest of the family, who would be in the living room (and entertaining guests judging by the level of noise), Calida decided to spend the afternoon in the library. She pulled down a rather thin book that, unlike most of the others, contained no spells or magical information. This book was a simple story that she had loved to read when she was about 10. She curled up in her comfy chair and read for several hours without interruption.

Around eight or so, there was a knock on the door and her brother walked in and took a seat near her.

"You missed dinner," he said gently.

"I know."

"We had company."

"I know."

"Draco asked if you were ok," he was looking at her with more concern than usual when he said this.

"Why did he want to know that?" she asked, though she thought she knew the answer.

"His mother was the one with you last night, Cali. She said you looked terrible when you left. She wasn't sure you would make it home. The first time's never fun, well, ok it's never fun, but from what we could tell, your first was worse than it usually is."

"What do you mean by that?" she said sharply. She was a little upset that he had called her Cali; it was the name he used for her as a child when she was sick or hurt.

"Well," he started slowly, "He is usually pretty forgiving of first mistakes. Cissa said you were covered in blood by the time you left. She said he directed a lot more of his anger at you than her. Are you sure you're ok?"

He looked genuinely sorry for her. She smirked at him; he was always coming home in bad shape because he had decided to take it upon himself to add 'dazzle' to his orders.

"Yes, I'm sure I'm fine," she said. "Chaka looked after me last night. I ate, took a shower, and went back to sleep. I feel fine today, just…a little weak and sore," she finished. She was serious about feeling weak, just this conversation gave her a feeling like she had been trying to fight the Imperious Curse for hours.

"Good," he said, finally sounding convinced that she was ok, "Merlin knows we don't want anything to happen to you."

He gave her a hug and left her to her reading. It was nice to know her family cared so much about her. She figured that she had gotten a nice concussion, as she still had no recollection of Narcissa being in the room with her.

She laid her book aside on the table and moved over to a sofa in the library. Calida relaxed into it, feeling very short as her head didn't quite reach the other arm. After jerking the pillow down and squashing it comfortably under her head she closed her eyes. She needed to rest before she could manage to get back to her room.

The door opened and she groaned inwardly, glad that her family cared, but now wishing they would leave her alone. She felt someone take a seat just above her head on the couch, but didn't bother to open her eyes.

"At least you're not bleeding everywhere," came a slow drawling voice.

Calida glanced backward and saw Draco sitting beside her. The sight of seeing him upside down gave her and instant headache and she closed her eyes again.

"No, not bleeding."

She was afraid that he was going to try to engage her in conversation, and she really didn't have the energy for that.

Calida felt his weight shift on the sofa and was surprised as she felt him slip his arm around her shoulders. She gazed at him blearily.

"Don't talk. I know you're exhausted, I've been in your position. You'll recover faster if you just stay in bed. I'll help."

He pulled her to her feet with surprising strength. Remembering that Draco was still in a bit of trouble with the Dark Lord, she felt a rush of gratitude for his understanding. She allowed him to help her into her room and get comfortable in bed.

Draco stepped outside while she changed, but when he returned, he brought a smoking goblet and several books with him.

"To read when you wake up," he supplied before she could ask. "And you'll want to drink this. I can't remember what it's called, but Professor Snape made a whole batch for me, helps take the edge off the ache."

He helped her sit up to swallow the potion then slipped out the door, flicking his wand to extinguish the torches on his way out.

She felt the warmth of the potion spreading through her aching limbs and drifted off into a deep, restful sleep.

* * *

Several days later she felt good as new. She had learned that the Dark Lord considered it good manners to allow two or three days for his Death Eaters to recover and think about how to do better next time. Calida was deeply grateful for this, as it meant that she didn't have to attend any meetings, but could be given assignments via family and friends, and since she wasn't anxious to repeat recent events, this suited her. 

Tonight, she would be going on her first assignment accompanied by others. She only had a vague idea of who all would be going, but it came to a total of about 30. The Dark Lord had received information that a rather large group of Phoenix members would be quite alone in escorting the famous Harry Potter to a wedding. Calida was to join the group ambushing them. Orders stated that she was to take out as many members of the Order as possible, but Harry Potter was to remain unharmed and brought to the Dark Lord.

As if she wasn't already nervous enough about this, she knew something that made her even more uneasy. Her 4th year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher Remus Lupin would most certainly be a part of the escort. She had always liked Professor Lupin, and like most of the school, was very sorry to see him go. She very much hoped that he would come out of it alive, but as she knew some of the most vicious Death Eaters in the Dark Lord's service had been sent to do this, she doubted it.

Calida hardly ate any dinner that night. Her family seemed to be under the impression that it was only her recent delving into the realms of being tortured that was on her mind, and so they all kept giving her words of encouragement and telling her that he was hard on you when you did wrong, but his rewards were always worth it. Calida remembered that he had said he would reward her, and wondered what it would be. As she lifted her fork, white scars flashed on the back of her hand reading "_I am an ignorant, insubordinate child_", and she hoped fleetingly that perhaps she would be allowed to finish off Dolores Umbridge.

At long last the time came. They were to rally outside of Torlop Manor. Calida had always liked them. They were a nice young couple (at least they were nice to her), new to the ranks, having only served for two years, but they had already gained a reputation as being some of his most dangerous supporters. Neither was suspected of working for the Dark Lord, and that gave them an advantage as Owen was working as a member of the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad. It may not have been as useful a position as others held, but he did manage to hear small bits of information that could be pieced together to reveal things of great importance. Once dressed for the occasion, Calida and her family disapparated.

* * *

Torlop Manor was a beautiful place. The house stood in a small valley with a row of trees behind it. There was a fantastic garden of the most spectacular plants (most of which came in useful when making poisons), and a few odd creatures wandering around the yard; like bright orange peacocks. 

There was already a large number of hooded figures there when she arrived. Everyone wandered off to mingle and catch up with friends while still others were apparating and joining the mass. She noticed that everyone there seemed so familiar with seeing their friends dressed this way, that they could pick them out by just their eyes alone. Calida was just about to wander off and look for her brother when a voice beside her spoke;

"Good to see you up and around again," drawled a tall boy with grey eyes next to her. She noted that Draco seemed to have regained a bit of his old swagger since she last saw him, but his voice still held a slightly nervous tone to it.

"Good to see you're still alive," she retorted. She couldn't see it, but she knew he was smirking at her from beneath his hood.

"It looks like I'm going to get a second chance," he said to her.

His voice shook slightly as he said the last two words, and she guessed that this must also be his last chance. Calida looked into his eyes and noticed they were brighter than usual, and she could see his determination to prove himself. Since last she heard he and his family were both to be killed, she wondered if perhaps this was their last chance as well.

Desdemona Torlop called for silence and told everyone where they were to apparate at Owen's signal. She said that everyone was to get in, do their jobs, and get out. They were not to be seen, they were to leave as few survivors as possible, and Harry Potter was to be captured and taken to the Dark Lord with no more harm done than being stunned. Calida pulled out her wand and watched as several people shifted nervously, waiting for the signal. Suddenly, a shower of green sparks lit the sky. At the front of the crowd Desdemona nodded and everyone disapparated.

* * *

There was already a fierce battle raging when Calida got there. Several of the Death Eaters were sending Killing Curses in every direction at anything that moved. Calida ducked a few spells trying to take in her surroundings for anything that could be useful; all she got was that a rickety old house that was plainly held up by magic was nearby. 

Calida dodged between dueling couples looking for somewhere the numbers were uneven. Finally she found poor Draco dueling two Order members she recognized as very talented Aurors. Without thinking she shot a spell at one of them. He instantly turned and started sending spells back at her. She didn't know what half of them did, but guessed it wouldn't be good to get hit with one, as they were most likely spells taught only to Aurors. She decided it would be best to end this as quickly as possible. She raised her wand, but before she got halfway through the spell, it flew out of her hand.

Calida rounded to see who had just disarmed her, shouting the Killing Curse and aiming it at the person she had intended to kill in the first place. A jet of green light flew from her palm and an anguished cry told her she had hit her mark. The face she found herself looking at nearly made her cry. Staring back at her was a rather young man with flecks of grey in his sandy hair. He looked pale and thin, but there had been a full moon recently. She silently summoned her wand back to her hand as he walked closer. She felt the slick wood in her hand and raised it at the man who had once been her teacher.

Calida sent a Killing spell off to the side of him with her hand, to draw his attention. He turned his head very briefly to watch the curse and was hit with the Disarming spell that had shot from her wand. Lupin was knocked off his feet and landed on the ground with a soft thud. She walked forward and looked down into his eyes. She saw his look of resolve there, and knew he would be only to happy to die for his cause.

Calida took a deep shuddering breath and pointed her wand directly at his chest. She felt tears stinging her eyes and her wand shook violently. With a sharp pang she realized what Draco had felt, and understood why he couldn't kill his headmaster. She knew that Lupin was watching her, seeing her weakness. She couldn't do it, but she couldn't just back away and let him live.

"Calida!" A shriek pierced the night, drowning out all the other screams and bangs that were echoing around them. She whipped around to see who called, but saw instead why they had. Harry Potter and three friends were running out of the action, and she was the nearest Death Eater to them.

She turned and ran after them trying to hit them with a stunning spell or an anti-disapparation jinx; thanking Merlin that she had received an excuse for not harming Remus Lupin.

Calida was close enough to see Harry grab the arm of a red headed girl. She sent one last stunner in his direction. Her aim was true this time; it would have hit. But Harry and his companions had disapparated a split second before the spell should have reached them. She swore and turned to face the Death Eaters running towards her. They motioned for her to forget it and leave; Aurors were starting to apparate everywhere. Apparently word had got out of their attack now and reinforcements were arriving. She twirled her wand so it disappeared, turned on her heel and disapparated, shaking her head.

* * *

About an hour later they were all gathered in a circle around the Dark Lord. Everyone was deathly silent as he spoke to Desdemona. Finally, he stood straight and said "I see," in a voice so cold a shiver ran around the circle. Calida felt like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out. She knew she was in trouble again, and this time it was going to be much, much worse. 

He walked around the circle speaking softly to each Death Eater in turn. Occasionally, he would torture one for a short time before moving on to the next. He was speaking to them so softly that the only noises shaking the sickening silence were the anguished screams when one of them was punished. Calida watched as one by one her fellow Death Eaters were tortured or spoken to until; at last, it was her turn.

"So, Calida," he said to her softly. She could see the cold fury in his scarlet eyes and swallowed. "I hear it was you who let Harry Potter escape this time. What do you have to say to this accusation?" he asked her.

"My Lord," she whispered, her mouth was dry and her tongue seemed unable to grasp her words. "I have no excuses. I wasn't fast enough, and he and his friends escaped. Forgive me, Master." She was half crying when she finished. She felt like she had let her whole family down.

The next thing she knew she was on the ground screaming and twitching uncontrollably. Pain coursed through her body. It was like her blood was burning her from within and white hot knives were piercing her flesh; her very bones. She had no idea how she survived this the other night. She was just thinking that she was sure to die if the pain persisted for another second when it lifted. Calida lay on the ground panting, her body still aching from her punishment.

"Get up, Calida." There was no pity or concern in his voice; it was colder than she had ever heard it. Slowly, she pushed herself up and stood back into the circle. "You will do better next time." It wasn't a question, but she was sure she would be able to do better, she had to. It wasn't just for her she had to do it; it was for her family.

"Yes, Master. I will, Master," she didn't mean for it to come out sounding quite so furious or defiant, but it seemed the Dark Lord took the correct meaning in it.

"Good," he said with a touch of a smile at her. "Calida, we will discuss your next assignment before you leave. You are to remain behind the others." And he walked off to face the rest of the Death Eaters in the circle.

Calida was proud of her family and what their name stood for. She couldn't break it. She had never thought her parents' expectations of her were unreasonable. Perhaps when she was young she thought their ideas were stupid, but it made sense to her now. Letting the muggle borns learn magic was all well and good until their friends and family started pestering the rest of the wizarding community to do magic for them. Keeping muggle borns out made life simpler, for the Ministry and for Wizarding communities as a whole. Besides that, Calida enjoyed death, destruction, and chaos in general. This war wasn't about purification anymore; it was about chaos and revenge. She should do well at anything assigned to her in this war. This was the kind of stuff she loved.

Calida looked around and started, she was now the only one left. The Dark Lord walked slowly over to her, and she stared up into his pitiless red eyes wondering what she would have to do.

"As you well know, Calida, the destruction of my ring was infuriating. That ring was the second of my possessions to be destroyed at the hands of Harry Potter and that muggle loving fool, Albus Dumbledore." His eyes flared as spoke.

"My Lord," she said softly, "I understand the loss of the ring, it was a family heirloom. But, My Lord, could you not make a new diary?" she asked timidly. He said nothing for a short time. She wasn't sure if this was to be taken as a good sign or not.

"Calida, one week from today you are to go to a place called Godric's Hollow. You will find the house in which Harry Potter and his parents lived there. This is the resting place for one of my prized possessions. You are to find a silver hand held mirror, there will be sapphires encrusted into it and it will bear the name Rowena Ravenclaw. Bring it to me." She nodded and his eyes flashed; his voice was cold and venomous, "Do _not_ fail me again, Calida."

"No my Lord, I will not," she said in a strong and confident voice. Without another word he turned and was gone.

Calida stood alone thinking. This was absurdly easy, yet he made it quite clear by his tone that this was extremely important. All she had to do was go find a mirror, and he had told her exactly where it was. She felt there had to be some kind of catch. There was something he hadn't told her, but she knew it was there. He entrusted her with this, and she would do it, and cautiously. Just because it seemed easy didn't mean she should be careless about it. She had one week to prepare herself. She would not fail this time.

* * *

_Alright, well, I think I added some character development there. Please review people, I want to know what you think. _

_As always this is still in the process of revision, please let me know of any errors._


	5. Godric's Hollow

**

* * *

**

_Well, I have been looking forward to writing chapter 5 for some time now. I hope you all continue to enjoy reading it, and as always, I want to hear what you think. Thank you to those who have said such wonderful things to me thus far. And now, without further ado, here is chapter 5._

_EDIT: 5-4-07 I have finally finished revising chapter 5. This one took slightly longer as there were some things I felt that needed to be added in. While it's nothing to important to the plot, there are over 1,000 words of additional material. I still plan to have all revisions finished by Saturday, and I expect to have chapter 9 up a short time after that. _

* * *

Calida was curled up in her favorite chair in the library asleep. She had been up all night reading legends about the special powers that the mirror supposedly possessed. Odds were that most of them weren't true, but at least this way she would have warning if they were.

Something cold was tickling her ear; she swatted it away. There it was again. She opened her eyes and saw her brother and Hector standing beside her.

"What do you want?" she asked her brother grumpily.

"To tell you that you have company," he said, and he flopped down in a nearby chair. Hector followed suit.

"We want to know what you've been doing all week," Hector said bluntly.

"Every since the ambush on Potter no one has seen you out doing anything. All you do is sit here in the library reading. We want to know what he told you to do."

She could tell that her brother was rather annoyed at having been left out of important plans.

"I can't tell you. Either of you," she added looking at Hector, who had been about to complain. "I was told to tell no one, and both of you, I'm afraid, count as someone. I know you want to hear all about it, but I can't. Sorry. If you really want to know that badly, why don't you go and ask the Dark Lord yourself," she knew she had sounded rather cross, but they woke her up and she needed to sleep. Tomorrow her week's preparation time would be up.

"We really wanted to know incase you needed any help," Hector said.

"We know he's been upset with you, and we don't want you to get hurt doing something reckless to prove your point," Atabulus continued.

"I don't need any help. This is an easy request to fulfill. I've been in the library all week because I decided I shouldn't be careless about it. Even if it is easy, it's still important. I'll be fine. You two both need to stop being so protective of me," she said quelling them.

She was glad that her family was so fond of Hector. Her brother had always liked him, but together they were almost unbearable when it came to protecting her. They both still looked slightly unconvinced so she glared at them and stuck her tongue out. Atabulus laughed and got up, motioning for Hector to follow.

"Come on, we better leave the Dark Lord's pet alone or she'll sick a dementor on us." He and Hector both laughed and left the room.

Calida glared at their backs as they left and finally got up to follow. Her legs were stiff from they way she had been curled in the chair, so she stumbled a bit as she wandered into the dining room.

Her mother and father were already seated around the table, the silver plates gleaming in the candle light from the chandelier. She took her seat next to Hector and glared as he smirked.

Tellus slipped into the room clutching a copy of the _Daily Prophet _in her arms as she sat down beside her mother.

"Oh for heaven's sakes, Tellus, did you have to bring that paper to dinner with you?"

"Now Helena," her father crooned, "she's excited, and I can hardly blame her. We've all been wondering."

"Wondering what?" Calida looked up from the mince pie she was coaxing onto her fork.

Tellus handed over the paper grinning wildly. Calida knew instantly the article that had made Tellus so excited.

**HOGWARTS TO REMAIN OPEN **

_Headmistress Minerva McGonagall announced yesterday evening that the decision has been agreed upon by the school governors. _ _Hogwarts_ _School__ of Witchcraft and Wizardry will be reopening for the following term. _

_"The Heads of Houses have all agreed that as long as any student wishes to learn, the doors to the school shall remain open," said a tearful Headmistress. _

_The term will start as usual on September 1, and students will travel on the Hogwarts Express as usual. Security measures on the school have been increased drastically since the tragic death of previous Headmaster Albus Dumbledore at the hands of a former staff member. _

_"The Ministry will be doing everything it can to ensure the safety of students this year," says Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour. In light of recent events several Aurors have offered to come out of retirement to aid in the care of students. _

_Headmistress McGonagall also informed the _Prophet_ that she has in fact, secured an instructor for the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts, which was once again vacated at the end of last year. Former Ministry employee Cynthia Blain will be filling the post. Mrs. Blain worked as an Auror for nearly twenty years before retiring shortly after the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. _

_"I'm doing it for the students," Blain told reporters. "I've been there, I've fought the Death Eaters. These students have got to know what they're up against, and they have got to be trained to properly defend themselves." _

_The Headmistress has also informed reporters that Horace Slughorn, who took up the position of Potions Master last year, has agreed to stay on as the new Head of Slytherin house this year. _

_In addition to tighter security, McGonagall says that she will be arranging pre-set dates for parents to come and visit their children on a somewhat regular basis during the school year. _

_"We understand that right now everyone is concerned for the safety of their families. I won't deny that we all felt safer while Albus Dumbledore was with us, but he would want us to protect children and families alike." _

_Further details concerning this scheduled visits will be sent out with the usual letters. The Ministry will also be issuing leaflets to all students and their parents concerning the safety measures that will be taken in the week prior to September 1st to allow children to buy their school supplies. _

Calida passed the paper back to her sister who spread it out carefully beside her plate so she could continue to stare at the picture of the castle.

"I'm glad they're keeping the school open. I wonder how many will actually go back though."

"Probably more than you think," her father said casually. "Blain was an excellent Auror, a bit less paranoid than Moody, but good nevertheless. They'll be using her presence to try to convince parents that she'll teach the kids all the self-defense they need."

"Smart of them," Calida said. "Knowing defensive magic can come in handy."

"It certainly can," her mother chimed in. "And we expect you to learn it all Tellus dear, yes I know you know some basic Dark Arts, but you need to know defense too. At your age it's best if you don't give yourself away."

"I'm glad to see Slughorn is staying, he was a good teacher last year. A bit less strict than Professor Snape, more jovial, kind of like Flitwick."

Calida snorted into her potatoes watching her brother clearly trying to imagine a cross between Flitwick and Snape. Hector was already laughing by the time Atabulus realized he was the center of attention.

"Don't worry Tellus," Hector said, dodging the fork full of potatoes Atabulus was flinging at him. "Slughorn's a good teacher, you'll like him."

"Atabulus, don't throw your food. Yes he was there in our day." Calida giggled as her mother scolded him for throwing his food. His response was to throw the fork at her.

Their mother gave an exasperated sigh as her Calida bewitched her spoon to go after her brother. Eventually Hector and her father joined in the fray and Helena led Tellus out of the dinning room, kicking and screaming at being left out.

Atabulus had just raised his wand to disarm her when she cast a stinging hex on him. He dropped his wand and Calida smirked, diving underneath Hector's Jelly-legs jinx.

All four of them jumped as the doorbell rang. Triton went to get the door, leaving the kids behind to clean up their own mess. Calida flicked her wand and vanished the food from the walls and the floor. Another flick and the silverware was all once more on the table.

"Why don't you just let one of the elves do that?" her brother asked.

"Because it only takes two seconds to do it myself. And you step on them when they're cleaning the floor."

Atabulus was about to open his mouth to argue when a woman's sobs met their ears. The three of them made their way into the living room where her father was comforting a very distraught looking Narcissa Malfoy.

"What's up, Cissa?" Atabulus asked as he conjured a glass of wine and offered it to her.

"The damn Ministry won't leave us alone. Lucius and Draco are off doing something for the Dark Lord, and the Ministry showed up to raid our house again last week. I'm afraid we won't be able to go back to it. Not until the Ministry falls at least."

Her father nodded. "Owen has been feeding the Ministry information that Atabulus and I no longer live here, and that Calida has gone off on her own. So far it's kept them away from our house, but it can't be too much longer before they stop by."

"Draco and I started staying with Clore last week, Lucius has been rather busy, but he'll be joining us soon."

"Calida?" Atabulus had suddenly glanced over at her.

A cold weight had just settled itself in her stomach. She had forgotten about the cup. If the Ministry raided the house it would surely be found. She had to move it. She didn't know where to move it to though. There was no way the Ministry could get in, but once they raided the house it would be almost impossible for Calida to get it out again.

She suddenly became aware that everyone was staring at her.

"Are you ok?" She could see her own pale face reflected in Hector's eyes.

"I'm fine, I just forgot something I need to look up before tomorrow."

She jumped up and left the living room without acknowledging the confused looks as she went.

Calida slipped into bed and drifted off into an uneasy sleep, trying desperately to think of somewhere she could hide the cup that wouldn't be as obvious, or as suspicious as her room.

* * *

Calida left the house around 9 o'clock the next morning. She was wearing robes of deep green today; she decided it would be best not to dress as a Death Eater, to avoid suspicion. It was a warm day, and clouds were drifting across the sky in a carefree way. 

She was standing at the end of a small street lined with average looking houses. Walking down a street in the village called Godric's Hollow; she came to a house that was in ruins. It looked as if no one had bothered to rebuild it, almost like it stood as a memorial. There were some walls still standing, but much of the house was in a large pile. Behind the house next to a row of trees stood two white tombs, much like the one that now held the body of Albus Dumbledore. These, she knew, would bear the names of Lily and James Potter.

Calida sighed and now understood why this would be hard, even the most powerful summoning charm wouldn't be able to pull the mirror from under the rubble. It was clear this would be harder than expected, especially with all the curious neighbors now peering at her from behind their curtains.

She ignored the people now running between houses and pointing at her clothing. Turning to walk up to the house, she muttered "muggles", and stepped right over what was once the threshold to the living room. Wondering what all these muggles had thought when the house was destroyed (she tended to picture it as an explosion of green light), she pushed bricks around and looked for a glint of silver. This part of the house had already been cleaned up some, and she assumed that it must have been from the removal of the bodies.

Calida was wondering why the Dark Lord would have brought the mirror with him the night he first came here; all she came up with was that it must still lay in the room where Lily Potter was killed; the room where Harry had lived. Large amounts of rubble had been cleaned away as if someone had been looking for something, but with great care; none of the rubble was just thrown aside, it had been laid aside in stacks.

After about twenty minutes of wading through detritus, she came to what may have once been a crib. Calida could feel the remnants of magic here. She knelt by the crib, brushing off her now dust covered robes. As she laid a hand on the crib, she caught glimpses of that night; screams, laughter, and a bright flash. This had to be it then, the mirror would be close by. She pushed brick and wood aside, looking for a sparkle of silver or blue.

Some time later, Calida was starting to get desperate; worried that someone else may have beaten her to it during the last 15 almost 16 years. The whole of the room couldn't have been much bigger than where she had already searched. There was a large pile of debris right next to where she was. Calida, now frantic in her search, started throwing things aside until;

There it was; a shimmer of silver on the ground. She reached out a shaking hand and picked it up, wiping the dust off on her robes. The sapphires were all still in place, and power was still flowing though it. The glass had been cracked and chipped, but it was still one of the most beautiful things she had ever seen. She twirled her wand and tapped it lightly, sending it on to her house ahead of her to prevent any further damage to it.

Calida walked into the woods; having decided that it would be safer to disapparate there than in front of the goggling neighbors. She was just about to turn and disappear when voices nearby caught her ear.

"Are you sure we should be here alone, Harry?" came a slightly hysterical girl's voice.

"Relax Hermione; I really doubt that Voldemort has Death Eaters watching this place. No one knows I was planning on coming here but you two and Ginny," said another voice, a boy's this time.

Calida slipped quietly through to the edge of the trees and saw an all too familiar trio emerging from the woods nearby. She recognized the center one at once, his untidy black hair and glasses made him unmistakable. Standing just feet from her, unsuspecting and overconfident, was Harry Potter and his two best friends Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley.

"To be fair mate, they could have followed you," said the red-headed Ron. "I mean, no one knows how they knew where to find us before the wedding, they could have found out-"

"Shut up, Ron. You don't have to be here if you don't want to. I told you, this is where it all started…I need to be here." Calida was saddened by the tone of his voice.

She knew that Harry was not the only one who had lost people at the hands of the Dark Lord. And now, she was responsible for tearing families apart, for shattering lives. She watched with a slight pang of guilt as Harry reached out and touched the tombs of his parents. She gripped the tree beside her, watching as Harry knelt down on the grass, one hand still on each of the white marble tombs.

Calida bit her lip, staring uncomfortably at the scene in front of her. She would be devastated if she lost her parents, or her siblings, and yet, it was now a part of her job to rip families apart, just like the ones in front of her.

Calida started at a rustling in the trees nearby and saw a flash of flying red hair run out of the trees. It looked as though the youngest Weasley didn't want to be left behind. She had heard rumors that Ginny was Harry's girlfriend, but didn't ever care to know if they were true or not.

Silently she walked through the woods to get a better look at the group. She knew she should be leaving, but she couldn't bring herself to. She had let them slip through her fingers only a week ago. It was her fault they had got away. It was one thing to be punished by the Dark Lord in private, but what she had felt a week ago was a different story. She couldn't remember the pain from the night she had told the Dark Lord about the ring, but she wouldn't soon forget the pain that had racked her body only a week ago. It wasn't just the pain, it was the humiliation that came with everyone watching as you were punished, the fact that they all knew you had done wrong, and that you were an example of failure.

Harry finally pulled his hands back from the shining white stone and rested his head in them, shaking with silent sobs. Behind him a silent battle was going on between the siblings until Ginny broke free of her brother's grip. She walked up beside Harry and sat down, holding him close to her. Bushy-haired Hermione Granger was wringing her hands and looking around anxiously every few seconds.

Calida paid no attention as each of them tried to console Harry. Her mind was on the fact that she now had a chance to rectify her mistake. She had been given a second chance to bring Harry Potter to the Dark Lord. Scenes of her being rewarded; of the Dark Lord calling her his most faithful, flashed through her mind. She could do it, but how. The second she sent off a spell they would be alerted to her presence. She could just disappear and reappear somewhere else, but she couldn't risk that they disapparate in the split second she was gone. There had to be a way. She had to stun Harry, and get the others to either leave, or she could kill them, but they couldn't be there when she took Harry.

She watched as Harry and the others stood up and began walking towards the house. It wasn't going to be easy, she needed a clear shot at Harry, and then she would have to hope to get him away without being hit by one of the spells the others would undoubtedly fire at her.

Calida took a deep breath; Harry had just stepped out in front of the others, her shot would be clear in seconds. She was preparing to send the stunning spell at him when words caught her ear once more.

"Do you think he hid a Horcrux here, Harry," Hermione was asking. Calida froze.

"I don't know…maybe," Harry replied slowly. Ron was whining softly and was apparently horrified. Calida was wondering why he was so afraid when he said it.

"Harry, do you think those people staring at us are inferi?" Harry turned his head and looked at the neighbors peering through windows. Calida had to stifle a laugh. Inferi wouldn't let them this close without attacking if they were guarding something here, and they looked like dead and decaying corpses, not like nosey neighbors spying on the newcomers.

"No," Harry said with confidence. "Trust me Ron, if they were inferi, you would know." Calida saw him shudder as he turned back to look at the house. She didn't know when, but it was obvious that he had seen inferi before.

Harry's companions were all starting to look more nervous with every moment that passed. Calida wondered if they had sensed her presence or if she had made some noise they had heard.

"Harry, I don't think there's a Horcrux here. You said there were lots of protective spells on the locket. Wouldn't we have encountered some here by now?" Hermione had a note of urgent anxiety in her voice when she said this.

"Hermione, I know I said that I don't think there is anyone here, but would you mind not shouting about it to everyone?" Harry asked her irritably. "And, no, I don't think there is anything here," his voice was shaking like he was going to start crying again.

Calida felt another guilt pang. She knew Harry had had a hard life; that was common knowledge. In ways, she felt sorry for what all he had been through. She knew he had been the first to receive a detention from Umbridge, but that was about as far as her similar experiences with him went, as she hadn't been far behind in starting her detentions. She flashed the white scars on her hand in the sun and thought again that maybe she could manage killing Umbridge as her reward.

With that thought, she raised her wand. Harry was still standing clear of his friends.

"_Stupefy,_" she whispered. The jet of red light shot from her wand just as Ginny Weasley stepped forward into the line of fire.

"Damn it."

Ginny's form collapsed to the ground and the three rounded to face her spot in the woods. Without hesitation each one started sending spell after spell at her.

"_Protego! Protego! PROTEGO!_" she shouted as she ran out of the woods. She wasn't accomplishing anything by trying to send their spells back at them. She was pleased to notice that Ron and Hermione at any rate weren't trying to do anything worse than stun her. Harry, on the other hand, was wildly screaming "_Crucio!_" and "_Sectumsempra!_" at her.

Finally, she managed to hit the other two with some basic Dark Spells. She hit Hermione with she knew would keep her unconscious for a few days at the least. It wasn't a particularly harmful one, but it had to wear off in its own time, no reviving spells or potions would work against it. Ron, however, was caught in a blast from an exploding spell she had used. It hit the ground a few feet in front of him, so he would be ok if no major bits of debris had hit him.

She cast a slightly more permanent Shield Charm as she made it almost to Ginny's lifeless form. It wouldn't last long, but it would absorb more powerful spells or more blasts from weak ones. Unfortunately, it wouldn't let her cast any spells either. Turning to face Harry, she saw the anger in his eyes.

"So," she said, "I see you have indeed taken a liking toward the Unforgivable Curses." She was still hoping to get Harry, to catch him off guard. Instead of answering he sent the Cruciatus Curse at her again; it was absorbed in the shield as it broke. Calida recast the shield and laughed.

"Protecting her, are you, Harry?" she jerked her head in Ginny's direction. Harry tensed and moved his wand to point at her chest. She giggled. "You don't need to worry about her. It's not her I want. You're the one I want, Harry, but I'm sure you already know that," she smirked.

"What did you do to them?" he pointed his other hand at Ron and Hermione, "And what did you do to Ginny?" he shouted at her.

"They will be fine, nothing that isn't easily remedied. Now, Harry I'm afraid I don't have time to play this game with you. I'll make it easy, come with me quietly, and I let all of them go." She waved her hand at his three friends.

"Like I believe that," he spat back at her. "You would never just let them go. _Your kind _never let anyone go. That is what you are, isn't it? You're a Death Eater sent here to kill them and take me, right?"

Calida felt anger surge through her. That wasn't true, she had let Professor Lupin go, and Draco would have let Dumbledore go. How could he say that none of them ever let anyone go? _How can he be so stupid_, she thought. She knew now what he thought of her and her family, her friends. He thought they were all cold heartless, soulless creatures; people with no thought or feeling. That wasn't true; she could love and care just as much as the next person. He had no idea what he was dealing with if he thought that she couldn't. She had always thought Draco exaggerated how Harry acted, but it didn't look that way now. He thought he was better than she was; that he was above her somehow.

Any doubt that had ever remained after the stories she had heard, was wiped from her mind in that instant. There was nothing special about him; it was luck that had helped him escape from the Dark Lord so many times; luck and nothing more.

Calida twitched her wand throwing the shield off of herself. "_Crucio!_" she watched him scream and shriek on the ground for a while before lifting the curse. He jumped back up with his wand in his hand and started throwing what must have been every curse he had ever learned at her; everything from the most basic offensive spells to the Unforgivables.

She ducked and twisted to avoid the spells and continued to try to stun Harry as she ran the last few steps to Ginny's body. If she couldn't take Harry, then the very least she could do was take this girl that meant so much to him. He would be sure to come and try to save her; the Dark Lord had proved just a year ago that Harry loved to be the hero. She could wait for him to come and try to rescue her, and then take him to the Dark Lord when he did.

Harry screamed as she reached down and tried to pull Ginny up by the arm. Red jets of light continued to issue from her wand as she ducked the spells flying at her from Harry, and she tried to get Ginny into a position that would allow her to apparate. With a sharp tug she managed to drag Ginny to her feet and wrapped an arm around the girl's shoulder. After sending one last stunner at Harry, she turned on her heel and both she and Ginny vanished.

* * *

_I know I usually put in more breaks that this, but it flowed to well together. I'll get started on chapter 6 very soon. I've got lots more planned to happen in the upcoming chapters. Please let me know what you think._


	6. The Ministry Raids

* * *

_This chapter was kind of intimidating for me to write; it sets up alot of important events to come. It is rather long, but I'm sure you'll like it if you've liked the rest of the story thus far. As always I appreciate the reviews._

_This chapter took a bit longer to update and resulted in me having to tweak chapter 5 a bit as well because of time lines, but it's finally finished. _

* * *

Odd things had been happening in the village over the last year; and it had all started with an old man called Clore. He was a hermit, rarely leaving his house and never speaking to anyone when he did. He lived in a run down little house surrounded by brush and overgrown weeds, on the edge of a small country town. He wasn't a favorite of the villagers, but he never bothered them, so they didn't mind. Clore had been the topic of rumors since he had moved in, quite some years back now. The lady who ran the market had never once seen him buy food, nor did anyone else in town see him buy anything. Once in a while the man might leave his house and go for a walk, though only a few people had ever even seen him do even that much. 

It was almost one year ago that Clore had been a renewed topic of gossip by the odd occurrences happening around him. The old man started receiving strange visitors at all hours of the day and night. They were always dressed in black cloaks, and no one had ever once seen any of their faces. In fact, the only way to tell that different people were visiting was that they all had different builds, or else came in groups.

If his sudden popularity wasn't enough, the brush in his yard had acquired a very strange fog that never seemed to lift. The fog would spread out into the street and engulf the village from time to time. They all avoided the fog if at all possible; it brought a cold chill that drained them all of any joy or cheer. The old story that Clore was a witchdoctor became popular once more. It was said that he harbored a strange array of shadow creatures in a shed that he regularly fed stray people who wandered onto his property without an invitation. The elders in the village told each other how he was working to strike fear into the village, and that none of them were safe.

Needless to say the younger adults in the town thought their elders had too much time on their hands. Everyone knows that witches and wizards don't exist. Most people maintained this idea, however odd the occurrences at the old man's house got. When the blonde woman and a boy who looked like her son moved in several days back, they swore that it was relatives who were going to take care of him in his old age; and their thoughts never wavered when they were joined by a blond man only yesterday. The strangest thing about these visitors, was that they had shown their faces when they arrived, walking through the village as if they visited the old man all the time.

People found reasonable explanations for everything that went on there; well, almost everything. There seemed to be only one possible explanation for the strange flashes of light that came from his house; Old Man Clore was a wizard. These flashes would illuminate the whole town; like an odd multi-colored lightning storm. The more frequent the flashes became, the more inclined people were to stay in the house.

Now, after a year of strange happenings, the townspeople were terrified to leave unless they had to. It seemed the elders may not have been so crazy after all. They had said that it was nearly twenty years ago when the same kinds of things were happening, and it was then that villagers who left their houses at night went crazy or else disappeared entirely.

That was why at sunset one evening when a tall girl wearing green robes appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the street, bearing an unconscious red-head, no one seemed to take any notice. And those that did were too scared to try to help or call for aid. So they just watched as the girl walked along the road dragging her burden right up to the old man's door.

* * *

Calida knew very little about this man, Clore. She knew that he was one of the first Death Eaters, and one of the only (if not the only) one to still be alive and have escaped Azkaban after all these years. She knew the Malfoys were staying here, and she could leave Ginny with them. 

She walked through the deserted street and waded through the fog up to the front door. She dropped Ginny on the ground and knocked. There were hurried footsteps and the sound of several people swearing. The door opened a fraction of an inch and a wand tip was pointed out of the crack at Calida.

"Who is it?" came the low, raspy voice from the occupant.

"Calida, faithful servant of the Dark Lord," she replied with a strong confident voice. The door slowly creaked open, leaving a gap several inches wide.

"Show me your mark," he used a very commanding tone, and she heard annoyed whispers from inside the house. She pulled up the sleeve on her robe and held her arm so the light would fall on the Dark Mark. A gnarled old hand holding a wand reached out and touched the mark. She knew he was verifying that it was real, and not the result of a Polyjuice Potion.

"All right, come on in," he growled. "And don't touch any thing." The door opened and Clore finally came fully into view. Calida found herself looking at someone that could have been Mad-Eye Moody's brother. There were a few differences; Clore had no magical eye and still possessed two real, working legs, and he had his entire nose. The rest of his face was covered in rough scars as was his wand hand. His left was horribly maimed, but had healed into a deformed lump quite some time ago.

"Thank you." She replied. "Are the Malfoys here? I was hoping for their assistance with something, and yours as well," she said gesturing to the limp Ginny Weasley on the ground beside her. Clore raised his eyebrow and waved for someone to come over to the door.

A second later Lucius Malfoy was standing there. He nodded a greeting at Calida and turned to Clore. "What's all this about?" he asked sharply. Clore just nudged Ginny with his foot and said nothing. Lucius looked down at the girl and shot an inquisitive look at Calida.

"Well, I was doing something for the Dark Lord when I ran into Potter, Granger, Weasley, and his little sister here. I tried to get Potter, but all I managed to do was knock his friends out and take her," she gestured at Ginny. "I figure, if we can find somewhere to hide her until the time is right, then the Dark Lord can play off Potter's love of being hero again. I figured that you would know where I could keep her, or at least someone who could," she added.

There was a brief silence and a moment in which Lucius and Clore exchanged looks with each other. Clore nodded and Lucius stooped to pick up the little red haired girl. He walked back in the house and Clore jerked his head indicating that Calida should follow.

The room seemed very dusty considering the number of people now staying there. There were books along the walls and a potion simmering on a counter in a small kitchen that was just visible through the door off the living room, a strange green mist seemed to hang around the cauldron. She stepped inside and smiled warmly at Narcissa, who had waved, as the door snapped shut behind her. The furniture in the room looked moderately comfortable, but rather old and worn.

Clore flicked his wand and a door opened in the wall behind the sofa. Lucius Malfoy walked down the steps beyond it, still carrying Ginny. Calida followed right behind him, and Clore brought up the rear.

The walls on either side of the stair case were lit with torches. They were cold stone with a slimy look to them. The air was filled with a damp moldy scent that made Calida cringe. The foot of the stairs opened into what was unmistakably a dungeon.

It was the same dank stone that made up the walls of the stair case, and there was an eerie blue-ish glow lighting the room. She looked around to find the source of the light, which seemed to be emanating from the stone itself, and her eyes fell on several sets of shackles hanging from the walls.

Lucius dumped Ginny onto the floor in front of one of the sets, which twitched anxiously. Clore swished his wand through the air, muttering and incantation that was indistinguishable to Calida, and the chains jumped up and bound themselves around the girl's wrists and ankles. After checking that the bonds were tight, Lucius revived her.

Ginny's eyes flickered and her head jerked up. She looked around wildly for a moment before her eyes landed on the three people standing in front of her. She glared at them each in turn before glancing back at Lucius.

"What do you want with me, Malfoy," She snarled. Lucius just smiled with a mild expression, a malevolent glint in his eyes.

"Now, now Miss Weasley, you should show respect for your elders," he said slickly. She just spit at him and maintained a defiant silence. Lucius shook his head smiling.

"I guess we will just have to teach you a little lesson then, won't we? _Crucio!_" Ginny screamed and jerked against the chains holding her in place. Calida winced slightly, memories of the last time she was under the Cruciatus Curse still fresh in her mind. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see a tall boy with pale gray eyes and blond hair. She smiled at him and he smiled back; stepping forward to stand next to her.

"So, I see you caught Potter's little girlfriend," he said. She nodded watching Ginny slump to the ground as Lucius raised the curse.

"That should be good for now. I'll be back to give you a little reminder later." Lucius turned and walked back up the stairs, followed by Clore.

Draco swaggered forward and stood right in front of Ginny; Calida went and stood next to him. "Well, well, well," he said in his usual drawling voice, "If it isn't the littlest blood traitor."

"Shut it, Malfoy," she snapped. Draco took a half a step forward and backhanded her across the face. Little droplets of blood slid down her reddened cheek where his nails had hit.

"Don't you dare speak to me like that you little slut. You're going to be here for a long time, and I'll make sure you pay for that." Draco looked at Calida and smirked, "I'm going to have a lot of fun teaching her respect."

Calida laughed. "Sounds like she's going to be learning a lot of respect while she's here." Calida looked at the girl and said, "As long as I'm here, I might as well." She pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it at the girl, placing her under the Cruciatus Curse once more. When she raised her wand, she twitched her fingers and it was gone.

"Bitch," Ginny panted, still trying to catch her breath. Calida shook her head and looked at Draco.

"Doesn't look like she's going to learn her lesson very fast does it? You'll have to say hello to her for me once in a while. Come on," she jerked her head towards the stairs and indicated that he should follow.

* * *

The door shut and locked when they reached the living room again. Clore, it seemed had made tea for everyone. So, Calida sat down next to Narcissa and took a cup of tea. Draco sat opposite her. 

"It's good to see you looking so much better," she said to him.

"Yeah," he gave an involuntary shudder, "I've been doing relatively simple stuff lately. Well, you've seen the dungeon; they bring people here to torture them and try to get information. I'm helping out with that now. Clore here has been making a few potions to keep my health up." He nodded politely at Clore.

"Finding torture a better line of work than murder, are you?" she asked teasingly.

It was obvious he was, seeing as how he was not only alive, but actually rather healthy looking. He nodded at her.

"That's understandable," she said, "It takes a lot more will to kill them than just hurt them. Finding it hard at all?"

"Depends on the person," he said. "Sometimes they bring in people I know, or did know, that's a little hard. I have to coax myself into doing it then. Honestly though, the death threat tends to make you forget. I mean, as long as you don't do anything for too long, they just come out of it with a bad memory. It makes it easier in those situations, knowing that that someone is gaining a bad memory and me and my family get to live."

He looked sadly down at the floor. She had the distinct impression that while he may not enjoy what he was doing, this was a far more reasonable option to him than death. And, judging by the look on her face, Narcissa agreed.

"I can see that," she said. She was watching Lucius and Clore talking in the kitchen, they appeared to be discussing the potion, but they kept pointing out what Calida assumed to be a window.

"Every once in a while though," she looked back at Draco, who's voice was once again filled with the arrogance the Malfoys were famous for, "they bring in someone like Weasley. I have fun with those."

He smirked in the direction of the door to the dungeon.

"What have you been up to? Your family drops by once in a while, they say they never see you anymore, you're always off doing something secret."

Calida smiled innocently. "Is that what they're telling you?" Draco raised an eyebrow. She tossed her hair off her shoulders and laughed mercilessly.

"Honestly Draco, if I can't tell my own family what makes you think that I would tell you?"

Draco just shrugged like he didn't really care. It gave her great satisfaction to know that everyone was so interested in what she was up to. The truth was though, that she didn't really even understand her job, just that it was secret, and important.

She set down her tea cup and stood up.

"Speaking of what I've been up to, I have to go meet with the Dark Lord. I said I would report as soon as I could, and I believe I have now waited pas that time. It was good to see you Draco, Narcissa," she smiled and walked over toward the door.

Clore and Lucius, it seemed, had either finished their discussion, or noticed that she was leaving, as both were walking over toward her.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Clore. Lucius, I hope to see you and your family again soon." Clore nodded and unlocked the door.

"We hope to see you soon as well, Calida", drawled Lucius, in a voice very much like his son's.

"And Calida," he said as she turned to open the door, "Good luck."

He gave her an almost fatherly smile, which she returned and opened the door. The Malfoys had always been good to her, and she did enjoy their company. She genuinely hoped that they would all survive long enough for her to visit again.

* * *

Calida stood in a dark hallway watching the light flickering from under the door. She reached into her pocket and felt the cool silver of the mirror; yes, it was still there. She sighed and started to pace the hallway. If anything was more intimidating than actually speaking to the Dark Lord, it was waiting to speak to him. She had no idea who he was talking to now, nor how long he would be. 

She rearranged the mirror in her pocket and slid down the wall beside the door. Looking around into the darkness, she thought she saw a pair of gleaming yellow eyes staring at her, but she blinked and they were gone. She shook her head and decided she had imagined it, but all the same, she still had the feeling she was being watched.

About twenty minutes later, Calida was still sitting in the hall. She was almost asleep, having had a long and tiresome day by her standards. Being fresh out of school she wasn't used to apparating several times a day, or actually using spells in order to duel with people for that matter. So she had closed her eyes and was just drifting off when she heard a door open.

She looked up and saw a large blond leaving. He bowed his head and walked swiftly down the hallway and out of sight. Calida blinked; the dim light of the fire seemed blinding after being in the dark hall for so long. When she could finally see straight, she looked up into a pair of eyes she was sure were there. She scrambled to get on her knees and bowed.

"My Lord, sorry, my Lord, I didn't see you," she stammered, she had almost entirely forgot why she was there.

"Come in, Calida," his voice sent a shiver down her spine.

She knew he was angry, but at least she also knew he wasn't angry with her. She stood and walked into the small room taking a seat in an armchair, as she had done on the one other occasion she had been in this room.

"What is it you wished to discuss with me so soon, and so privately?" His eyes were narrowed; this made her nervous.

Calida put her hand into her pocket and withdrew the mirror. The metal, stones, and glass all shone brightly in the light of the fire. Rather than saying anything, she simply held out the mirror for him to take. A gleam of triumph flashed in his eyes. She could tell that he had been thinking of the mirror a lot since her last discussion with him. She was curious to know its importance, but she already had a decent guess.

"You have done well, Calida. The Dark Lord is pleased, very pleased." He looked into her eyes, and she knew he could tell she was curious about the mirror and what would come of it. "Is there something else you wish to discuss with me, Calida?"

She hesitated for a moment then told him how she had come across a section in a book that was on Horcruxes, and then how she later overheard Harry discussing them with his friends.

She hadn't thought of this until she had gone to get the mirror from her house. It was sitting on the book in which she had found the little section, and she vividly recalled the conversation that she had overheard. It certainly explained a lot. Her parents had always told her that the Dark Lord thought death to be a weakness. She could have kicked herself for taking so long to make the connection.

There was just one thing that was confusing her about it all. The book had given her the impression that the soul could only be split once, and the way Harry and his friends talked, she got the distinct impression that they believed the Dark Lord had done it several times.

Calida suddenly realized that he was paying very close attention to her thoughts. She blushed and muttered an apology under her breath. The look he gave her told her quite plainly that she had answered her own question, and he was not happy that she had.

She swallowed, waiting to be punished for knowing too much and thinking that she seemed to get into a lot of trouble with him just for knowing things. To her surprise, he laughed. His laughing wasn't a pleasant sound really, it was high and cold and chilled her to the bone, but it was encouraging to know he didn't just feel intense rage at the moment.

"You do tend to know too much about me for you own good. I cannot deny that I am upset that you now possess that knowledge. You have done well, Calida, but be warned; should you speak to anyone of this, I will know, and both you and those you tell will suffer my displeasure. Is there anything else you wish to tell me before you leave?"

"Yes, my Lord. And I believe that it is something you will be glad to hear," she said in a very timid voice.

She didn't like meeting with him alone at all, and found herself envying those who could serve him from afar. She knew most Death Eaters would kill to be in her position, but she felt this was a lot of responsibility that she hadn't yet proved herself worthy of.

"And what news is that?" there was a hint of amusement in his voice, but Calida didn't have the vaguest idea of what he found amusing.

"Harry Potter has a girlfriend, or so rumor had it at the end of last school year. This morning when I was at Godric's Hollow, I encountered him and his two best friends there, as well as his girlfriend. I attempted to take him; unfortunately I failed that, yet again. I did however, managed to kidnap his girlfriend, Ginny Weasley. She is at Clore's house, chained in his dungeon. I didn't want to try to bring her here, but I thought that Lucius and Draco might be able to look after her," she finished.

"Excellent. I'm sure she can be of some use. Tell me, did Clore object to having this particular house guest?" he asked her, now sounding more amused and thrilled than ever.

"No, he didn't. Both Lucius and Draco were anxious to see what information they could get from her."

"I expected as much. Thank you, Calida. You may go."

She stood and bowed, kissing his robes, then turned to leave. As she walked out the door she glanced back at him. He gave her a brief smile that froze her insides as much as it comforted her. She walked back down the hall, down the stairs, and out the door.

She was standing in the warm summer air, bathed in moonlight. She was caught up with enjoying the calm of the night, so it took her several minutes to realize that she wasn't alone. Someone was sniffing her. She turned and found herself face to face with Fenrir Greyback. She smiled at him.

"Hello, Fenrir," she said. Then, before he could respond with his usual comments about how she smells like a child or how fun it is to be a werewolf, she turned and disapparated.

* * *

Calida awoke the next morning to a high pitched screaming. She was sitting up with her wand out before she realized that her sister, Tellus, was standing next to her bed clutching a letter from Hogwarts. 

"I take it you were accepted," she said when Tellus finally calmed down enough that she could speak without yelling. Tellus nodded feverishly.

"Will you take me to Diagon Alley to get my school stuff? Please? Please, please, please, please-"

"I will if I'm not busy," Calida cut in. Tellus started screaming and jumping into the air. Calida put her hands up to her ears as her little sister ran toward the door.

"Oh and by the way, you have company," she said, and then her joyful screams were drowned out by the size of the house and the distance between them.

Calida drug herself out of bed, feeling that she would have much rather slept for several more hours, than get up to take her overenthusiastic little sister to buy things. She got dressed and went upstairs to the breakfast room. There were more people there than usual she noticed. Her mother and father were both there, as was her little sister who was still clutching her letter, her brother was absent; no surprises there. What caught her eye was that Tuccia and Rian were both there.

"Lida!" was all she heard before she was engulfed in a hug from Tuccia. "Oh, how are you, we haven't seen you in forever it seems like. Hector said you've been really busy, so we decided that we would come and see you and-"

"Tuccia, I'm fine. Yes, I have been busy, but I was going to come see you as soon as I got the chance. And speaking of Hector, where is he?" she asked looking around to make sure he wasn't hiding.

"He ran off with your brother last night. They were both visiting and they just got up and left all the sudden," Rian supplied. Calida thought she saw her mother give a knowing smile.

"I'm so glad to see you two. I guess you've heard that Tellus got her letter today?" she winked at her little sister who blushed furiously and dived into her scrambled eggs.

Rian raised and eyebrow at her, "Heard? What do you mean heard? I haven't been able to hear anything since she started screaming."

Everyone laughed and Tuccia elbowed him in the side.

"Now that's not nice, she's excited. And with good reason to. She's watched both her siblings get through school and she hasn't even been able to perform magic legally yet. She finally gets to go to school and start learning."

Tuccia looked rather irritated at Rian. Calida smiled remembering how Rian had reacted when he got his letter; he was, if anything, worse than Tellus. He was in such a hurry to tell his family and friends, that he had unintentionally apparated and ended up splinching himself. She saw him blush and he mumbled something; she knew he was remembering that too.

Tellus on the other hand, was determinedly not looking at anyone, but gazing intently at her empty breakfast plate. Her parents had never enforced the underage magic rule, and as a result, Tellus was quite accomplished at most the first and second year materials, as well as several of the most basic Dark Arts. She wasn't really excited about going to learn all the first year material; she was excited about having the whole Hogwarts library at her disposure to learn from. On top of that, her parents always taught their children to apparate after their first year at Hogwarts. That was why Tellus was excited.

They all ate their breakfast contently. Once they finished, Calida and her friends went into the living room to talk. They had a good time catching up on all the events in their lives. This was hard for Calida as she wasn't planning to tell them about becoming a Death Eater. Her friends and their parents were neutral on the subject. They approved of the ideas and methods, but didn't particularly care to support the Dark Lord. She had settled on explaining that her parents traveled in the summer and didn't trust the house elves to baby-sit, so she had taken that responsibility.

That was only a half truth of course. Her parents trusted the house elves just fine, and Tellus was quite responsible for her age. Though, her parents did do lots of traveling…

* * *

Finally, after several hours of chatting and laughing, Tellus walked into the room very timidly. Calida knew what she would be wanting, and found that after a visit with her friends, she thought it would be fun to take her little sister shopping. Perhaps she could find something interesting to buy for herself. 

Calida bade her friends good-bye explaining that she was taking Tellus shopping. They told her to have fun and wished Tellus luck at school. Once they had both finally left Calida turned to her little sister, whose face was shining with glee. Tellus looked up to her; she wasn't sure why, but it made her feel good that her little sister thought of her as a role model.

"All right, come on. We will have to travel by Floo powder, I know you hate it, but you have to till next year at least." Tellus nodded and walked over to the fireplace.

Calida lit the fire, cast a quick glamour charm on herself, and motioned for Tellus to go first. She watched as her little sister disappeared in a flash of green, and then followed, after grabbing a bag of gold out of the drawer.

* * *

She walked down the street, her sister holding her hand and walking very close by. The street was almost deserted, save for a few Hogwarts students being rushed around by nervous looking parents. Calida could see the many Aurors in various positions around the buildings, but most of the parents didn't seem to find much comfort in this added security. 

She first took Tellus to get her robes, explaining that the books would be the last thing they got, no one wanted to carry a big pile of books around for the whole day.

Getting robes took long enough, Tellus was very picky and complained about only getting to get black ones until Calida resigned and bought her some deep navy ones as well. The blue looked good on Tellus, and it did seem to make her happy. Calida had thought about getting herself some, but decided that it wasn't necessary, and she had enough sets of robes as it was.

Next they went and got her some standard potions ingredients. Calida had to warn her little sister to be quiet, she kept asking to purchase far more advanced ingredients and actually stating what she wanted to make with them. She compromised by buying some ingredients for her own supplies at home, even though she didn't really need anymore.

By this point she was feeling a bit harassed as an overexcited Tellus drug her off to buy a new pet cat. Her parents bought a new pet for their children when they started at school, and it seemed that Tellus desperately wanted a cat. They purchased what the shop keeper told them was a 'rather vicious little male kitten' though he seemed very fond of Tellus. He was mostly black with a few brown stripes on his head, tail, and paws. Once they had paid, Tellus affectionately dubbed him Shadow, upon their entrance back onto the street. After several minutes, Calida managed to convince Tellus to put Shadow in the wicker crate to carry him so he didn't get away.

They took a slight detour for Tellus to look around in Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes. Calida avoided going in with her, afraid that Harry might have given the twins her description. She saw through the window that they looked far less jubilant than usual, and she was sure that Ginny Weasley's disappearance was in the paper. This thought made her feel slightly nervous until her sister emerged with a large bag full of random objects. Her favorite of which, seemed to be a cloak. Tellus explained that it would deflect most minor jinxes as she whipped it out and threw it around her shoulders.

Finally they entered Flourish and Blotts to buy her school books. Tellus went to ask the manager for her books while Calida wandered off to see what might interest her. She settled for two potions books that could prove useful, that she knew wouldn't be in her own library, as well as a book full of defensive spells. She may have known a lot of her own defensive magic, but she thought it always good to know what the opposition could throw at you, as well as some defensive spells that wouldn't give her away as a Dark Arts adept. They paid and left the shop laden with heavy books.

As they walked back toward the Leaky Cauldron they saw a very distraught looking Arthur Weasley chasing the protective slug peddler down the street. Calida was so busy looking back and thinking about how glad she was that Tellus had been given a wand two years ago in honor of the Dark Lord's rebirth, that she didn't even notice the peddler in front of her until she walked right into him. This was the one selling protective amulets. She had just opened her mouth to tell them no when her sister interrupted.

"These really work do they? Well, how about we test that, I'll just stay with you, and next full moon we'll toss one around your neck and shove you out in the forest," Tellus was glaring at the peddler who hurriedly mumbled about having seen another customer and ran off. Calida sighed and shook her head.

"At least you didn't mention Fenrir," she said. Her sister just smirked and walked on down the street.

Once they were back at home, Tellus gave her a hug and thanked her for taking her shopping. Calida helped her sister unpack her things and store them in her trunk to be ready for school when the time came, then went down stairs and added her new books to the library, being followed by Shadow; whose name now seemed highly appropriate.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were relatively uneventful. Tellus, who was now constantly followed by Shadow wherever she went, had begun rummaging the library trying to sneak out books to take to Hogwarts. She wouldn't stop this until it was promised that she could read and learn anything from any of them next summer; but that didn't stop her from begging to take books. Calida finally agreed to let her take the three new books she had bought in Diagon Alley, with Tellus' promise that she wouldn't let on like she understood any of it to anyone else in the school, or show them to anyone if she could help it. 

The action of the Death Eater meetings had slowed for a while. The real purpose of them seemed to be keeping everyone up to date on what was happening and how plans were unfolding. It seemed that Harry Potter and his friends would indeed be returning to Hogwarts. The security on the school had been increased tenfold and a large number of both Order members and Aurors were standing watch on the.

There were new guards to be placed at Azkaban, though they had yet to receive information on what kinds of guards they would be. It seemed that there were more people still working on gaining as much information as possible, who had not received the chance to report. At every meeting Calida marveled at the variety of sources that the Dark Lord had at his disposure, and the amount of information that they seemed to be able to collect over such short periods of time.

Finally September first came. Tellus was very excited to get to go to Hogwarts. Calida apparated to the station wearing a lovely glamour spell to disguise herself. She had wavy blonde hair and had distorted her features to make her look several years older.

Her brother apparated with Tellus' trunk, her father came alone, and Tellus side-along apparated with her mother (all of whom, save for Tellus, were under glamour as well).

People were scrambling to get onto the platform and weren't being very cautious around the muggles, who seemed to notice that the people who moved near the barrier between platforms 9 and 10 kept disappearing. Calida noticed several Aurors as well as a large number of Death Eaters on the platform. They saw Tellus onto the train and said good-bye telling her to write often, gave nods or winks to various Death Eaters (many of whom were also in glamour and hard to distinguish), and disapparated.

Tellus' first letter came almost three days later. She had been sorted into Slytherin and had enjoyed her first classes. She said she liked Professor Slughorn, and that Professor Blain seemed rather constantly annoyed with her. The family was sure that Tellus' relation to known Death Eaters was a source of disturbance for the newest instructor.

Draco came by and spent a day updating Calida on all the people who had been in and out of Clore's house, and telling her how Ginny was doing. For the most part Draco seemed to be his old self again, though every once in a while the color would drain from his face and his voice would waver when certain people or incidents were mentioned.

According to the papers, the wizarding world was truly beginning to panic now, there had been a severe lack in attacks or disappearances since Ginny, and they were afraid that something big had been planned. The truth was it was a planning period, time to regroup after recent events, and then deliver a devastating blow, but no plan was in place just yet.

* * *

Calida had been wondering for almost a week after Tellus left for school when things would start to pick up again. The papers were telling of Ministry raids on the houses of every one of their employees, but they were finding nothing. Then when she woke up and went downstairs one afternoon, she realized that they had company. She was just about to call Chaka to fix her some lunch when her mother stuck her head out of the door to the den. 

"Calida dear, could you come in here for a moment?" she said. Calida nodded and entered the den, sitting down in a big chair and curling her feet underneath her. Their guests, it transpired, were the Torlops. It seemed that Owen had been given a vacation due to injury and he and Desdemona would be taking this opportunity to wreak havoc on the muggle town nearest to Hogsmead.

They would be needing someone to house sit for a couple of days to take care of their animals, and were hoping that Calida would take up the job. Lucius had informed them that she was very good in dealing with animals. They asked her what kinds of animals she had looked after before, and she told them. Her list included runespoors (since she did keep one as a pet), a variety of other snakes and creatures good for potions in her own house, and several that she had helped care for at Hogwarts such as hippogriffs, thestrals, knarls, nifflers, and blast-ended skrewts.

After spending several hours listening to all the various needs of the Torlops' many animals, she departed and they gave her a tour around the house, showing her where she would be sleeping and introducing her to the elves who would be serving her for the duration of her brief stay.

Her first day there was relatively uneventful. She did manage to get bit by their pet crup, however. It was easily healed, and none of the other animals showed her any aggression. The crup, it seemed, had thought she was trying to steal things from the house. She had a lovely dinner, as the house elves were trying to impress their guest, and went to sleep in a warm, cozy bed in a quaint little room on the top floor of the house.

* * *

It was on her second day staying at the house that things started to get out of hand. She read in the paper that the Ministry had raided six houses overnight and that two people had been arrested. Neither of them were names she knew, but it seemed that they had several incriminating objects in their house (which weren't listed due to their Dark nature). 

It was also announced that the new guards had taken up their posts at Azkaban, though their identities were not revealed, and Auror coverage of the location had been increased. Aside from those arrested as the result of the raids, seven others had been taken in, a few of which Calida was sure were Death Eaters. All of that was just what had been reported in the Morning Edition of the _Daily Prophet_.

When the Evening Edition arrived, it contained a long article about a man named Raleigh Bogashoff, who Calida knew to be one of her father's friends. He was a Ministry employee (an Unspeakable, but the paper didn't mention that), who had been charged earlier that day with treason by passing information to the Dark Lord. He was sentenced to life in Azkaban, which was no surprise, but it was reported that a Memory Charm had been preformed on him after his trial, and he now had no recollection of who he was or what he had done.

She was still trying to recover from the harsh shock the Ministry's actions had caused. It made her whole situation scarier; if they were wiping memories now…. But then maybe they only did it to him because he had been an Unspeakable. There was a knock on the door. Calida shook her head and went to answer it.

The second she opened the door twenty Aurors flooded in. Each had his or her wand out. Three of them stayed and covered her explaining that this was a Ministry Raid and that the house would be searched for any evidence of Dark Activity. Should any incriminating objects be found, she would be taken to Azkaban to await trial. She was trying for the tenth time to explain to them that this wasn't her house and she didn't live here when the others came back, each carrying something incriminating.

Calida sighed and listened as they told her what the charges would be and the process she would go through. They searched her for her wand, which they of course couldn't find. This was a definite plus; she could still call it when she needed it, and she _would_ need it. She decided that she would go with them, she would wait for her trial like a good little girl, but she had no intentions of serving whatever sentence they gave her. She may be guilty of several crimes, but this wasn't her house, and she wasn't about to risk having her memory wiped because she volunteered to sit in it.

She went with them quietly, allowing them to guide her apparation to Azkaban. Calida looked out at the building in front of her and shuddered. The cold stone and bars alone made her feel hopeless. She couldn't imagine what this place would be like if the dementors were still stationed here. She felt a chill of dread as she looked at the group now coming to escort her to her cell, suddenly realizing that she didn't want to know who or what the new guards were.

* * *

_And that was chapter 6. And since Kitty adressed this in one of her reviews, I thought I would give you all the explaination of how Calida's parents, got their names. It was actually a bit of a fluke that they had origionally ended up being so close to Lucius and Narcissa (Lucian and Narissa). I had picked the meaning for each family member's name before I started writing. I then did a search of Latin names to find ones that matched the meanings, which were the five elements (wind, light, fire, water, and earth). Once I had that list compleated, Lucian and Narissa turned out to be the only names on their lists that I really cared for. I'm sorry if that caused any confusion to begin with. However those of you who have been following this story long enough will note that Calida's parents are now Triton and Helena, still Latin, and still with the same neanings. _

_I thank you all again for reading and would like to continue to hear any thoughts you might have. I have many events planned for chapter 7 and will get it out as soon as I possibly can (probably tomorrow or some time Thursday)._


	7. The Trial

_

* * *

_

_Well, here is chapter 7. This chapter was a bit of a headache because of trying to write the actual trial, but I'm happy with the result. Thank you to everyone who has been leaving reviews._

* * *

_It's only two weeks, just two weeks_, Calida thought to herself as they walked her down a dark row of cells. The guards had been removed temporarily for the new prisoner to be brought in, but they would be back just as soon as she was locked safely away in her cell.

Faces were peering at her trough the bars, it was easy to tell who had been here when the dementors were; they were the ones who looked dead, nothing in their eyes, their skin waxy and pale. Calida felt the most remorse for them, and wondered how many of them were innocent. Some of them were just looking blankly at the walls, others sobbing and shaking silently in the corners, and some were just screaming wildly.

Calida winced, recognizing innocent faces as she passed, and was glad she knew many of them had never had to suffer the dementors. Her only experience with dementors had been when Sirius Black had escaped and they had been stationed all around Hogwarts in her fourth year. She usually wasn't sure of what she was recalling when they drew near her; there was lots of screaming, no words, and flashes of light. Just remembering those made her shudder.

Finally she was led into a cell. She guessed it was almost underground, as the hall had sloped downwards. Her parents had told her that the higher security cells were located in this area. Calida wondered idly why she was being treated as a high security risk as they closed and locked the door behind her.

The cell was a dank dingy place. There was no bed to speak of, just a wooden bench jutting out from the wall. Calida thought the stone floor looked more comfortable. There was a toilet in the corner, and that was the extent of any other furnishings. There was a slight chill there, almost like a draft, but there was really no where for a draft to come from.

_Two weeks here, that'll be fun_, she thought bitterly. Of course everyone would know she was arrested, and the Torlops would now be under heavy investigation, as it had been their house she was in. The Ministry knew it, but they weren't making mistakes this time, they wanted to make sure everyone involved with any Dark Activity was put away. It wouldn't matter too much, the Dark Lord had other spies in the Ministry, and she was counting on them being there during her trial.

She walked over and touched the walls. They gave off a feeling of dread chill. It was almost like they had soaked up the temperaments of a dementor. She sank down into the floor and rested her head on her knees.

Just then she heard a fearsome roaring shriek. Her insides turned to ice. The new guards; she had forgotten about them. She closed her eyes as voices were yelling all around her. She couldn't make out just what they were saying her mind was racing.

_Dragons, oh no, they've got dragons guarding us now. They'll kill me before my trial even comes._

She started going over every possible spell she could use against a dragon, but it was useless. There was no way one witch could take on a full grown dragon and live to tell the tail. Sure, the Triwizard champions had to get _past_ a dragon, but they weren't enclosed in a tiny space with Merlin only knows how many Aurors to get past as well.

Calida slowly opened her eyes to see what kind of morbid dragon they had found for her. She received a shock as she looked into two fierce orange eyes, but not the eyes of the dragon as she had anticipated. She almost laughed as she looked at one of the most beautiful creatures she had ever seen. It had the head and front feet of a giant eagle, and the back end of a lion. _Griffins_, she thought. _Griffins are the new guards_.

It made sense really, they were known to eat raw meet and were often recruited to guard treasure, and only a small handful of witches and wizards had ever befriended one. There were three now settling themselves outside her door and the doors nearest to her. She watched as the one nearest to her bent its scaly knees and curled its tail around itself.

Calida had always been able to get along with most animals rather well. She wondered if that would hold true in this situation. One of them snapped at someone who was too near their door and he scuttled back into a corner like a spider that had been threatened by a large shoe.

The one in front of her had a beautiful golden body that smoothly changed into gray feathers. She slid closer to her door; slowly, so as not to scare it. The magnificent creature watched her carefully. Unsure of what to do, she bowed to it the way she would have done a hippogriff. The creature didn't respond to her, but she was undaunted by that, she didn't really expect any reaction from it. At least trying to befriend this beast would give her something to do for two weeks.

* * *

The first night was horrible. She tried lying on the wooden bench, but that just gave her splinters; not to mention the fact she rolled right off the edge and cracked her skull on the floor. After that she tried lying on the ground. It wasn't comfortable; she got shoulder cramps, her arm kept going numb, her head hurt from the stone, and she felt flattened. Despite it all though, she managed to drift off into a very light and uncomfortable sleep. 

She couldn't have been asleep for more than an hour when she was woken abruptly by a high pitched blood curdling shriek. Most people seemed to just be moaning or muttering incoherently, but this one was plainly unhinged. She kept screaming about all kinds of things, going on and on about how she was sorry and it was her fault. The screaming continued, seemingly unnoticed by anyone else, long into the night and the wee hours of the morning.

The next time she got to sleep she guessed it was almost noon, and even the day was broke by periodic screams. She was interrupted by her lunch and later by dinner. By the time that night rolled around, Calida was so tired that she just slept right on through the screaming. She knew people around her were screaming; it was incorporated into her dreams as her own screaming from the Cruciatus Curse.

It was amazing to her, how even with the dementors gone, this place still seemed able to drive its occupants to insanity. Calida felt blessed for not having to relive her worst memories over in her mind.

* * *

The next several days passed by similarly to the first one. During her waking hours she tried to befriend her guardian, and during her sleeping hours she had horrible nightmares of being tortured and harming people she loved and cared about. She had made some progress with the griffin, she could now move freely through her cell and get as close as she wanted to the door without being snapped at, but she couldn't put her hand outside the bars or touch it. 

It was on her last day there that something interesting happened. Someone new was being brought in, and she wasn't coming quietly. She was screaming and thrashing around. Calida ignored her at first and was attempting to pet the griffin, which was now letting her stick her hands out from the bars.

As they drew closer, she caught words among some of the woman's yells. "It wasn't me," she screamed. "It was the Death Eaters!" At that Calida jerked around to look at the woman. She moved her hand a bit too quickly and felt a sharp pain across her palm.

She swore loudly and pulled her hand back to examine the damage. There was a deep cut on her palm from the griffin's beak; it went all the way to the bone. Blood was soaking her robes and the floor at an alarming rate. It could be easily healed, but not without a wand, and she couldn't risk getting her wand out with so many Aurors nearby.

She watched as they threw the woman in the cell. The woman was very persistent in what she was trying to tell them.

"It was the Death Eaters," she kept saying. "They came into the village, they were every where. They had so many people under the Imperious Curse; there were inferi and dementors with them."

She was in a hysterical state and was not listening to the Aurors trying to calm her.

"They just kept blasting houses out of the way, and killing anyone they saw; if they didn't kill them they tortured them, or made them do horrible things."

The woman was now sobbing into her knees.

She listened for almost a half hour as the woman recounted her tale. She explained how Hogsmead was attacked. She tried to tell them that she wasn't doing anything on purpose, that she had been under the Imperious Curse. Calida smiled when she started accusing Lucius Malfoy of being her 'puppeteer'. It was common knowledge that Lucius had a very powerful Imperious Curse, and could easily control multiple people at one time. Calida was shaking horribly, and getting very pale now. Blood was still flowing freely from her hand.

From what she could hear, there was little of the town that was unscathed. There had been at least a dozen deaths, and even more people found tortured to the point hospital stays were necessary. The ones who had been under the Imperious Curse had been freed, save for this woman who was caught actually torturing someone. Calida didn't doubt for a second that she was telling the truth. First, Death Eaters were supposed to be more disciplined than she was being. Second, with the Dark Lord in power, no Death Eater would name their associates just to escape Azkaban.

By the time that the Aurors finally left the woman Calida was deathly pale and sitting in a puddle of blood. She was shaking worse than ever and knew that she wouldn't be any better after the healing spell, not until she took a blood replenishing potion, and that couldn't be done until she was out of Azkaban. However, she conjured her wand and did the healing spell. The cut closed itself up, but there was a scar there; it had been open for too long.

This wasn't good. She needed her strength for tomorrow. She wasn't about to serve an Azkaban sentence for something she wasn't guilty of, and she didn't have the time to wait for the Dark Lord to get her out, he had other things on his mind. It was her responsibility to do this for herself, to do everything within her power to remain in his service, ready to perform any task at his command. She flinched inwardly at the thought of performing certain tasks. She knew there were things she would never be able to do. This was different though, she could do this.

Calida spent that night weak, cold, and shivering from the blood loss. The blood was caked on the floor where she had sat. She was sick and sweating all through the night. She dreamed of her trial and the horrors that she would face there, and her dreams never ended well for her. People screamed as usual, but she slept through it, too tired to care what torments the night brought to them.

* * *

She was jerked awake the next morning by several Aurors. It took a while for her to get on her feet and recognize them. There were three she knew, and two she didn't. Naylor, Alinger, and Spalding were Aurors that her brother was constantly being harassed by. They looked positively gleeful about having her at their mercy. Ordinarily she would have thought they were over confident, but she was still in bad condition. 

Calida tripped over her own feet as they tried to lead her from the cell. A quick glance back at the floor told her that she had fallen asleep in a puddle of her own blood, which was now congealed onto her robes and matted into her hair.

She cursed silently as they took here out to the Apparation deck to transport her to her trial. She should have been paying more attention to what she was doing. Now she was going to be facing a potentially lethal fight in far less than ideal health.

The bright sunlight hurt her eyes and she stumbled as they walked across the grounds. They stopped on the Apparation deck and bound her hands with ropes. Calida swayed somewhat dangerously. Two of the Aurors grabbed her arms and they Disapparated with her.

Calida opened her eyes and saw she was in a small stone chamber in the Ministry. The two Aurors led her through a door into another chamber, exactly like the first only darker. They explained that it was impossible to Apparate or Disapparated in this room or in the courtroom, so she would do better not to try. She had expected as much. There was going to be a wait in this room while the Wizengamot took their seats. She slid down the wall and tried to will herself into having more energy.

It felt like only seconds later that the Aurors seized her arms and pulled her to her feet. They vanished the ropes binding her hands and led her through the door into the courtroom. Her entrance was met with a frightening silence. This was only a formality; the decision had already been made.

She was shoved into a chair in the center of the room. The chains on it sprang to life and curled around her arms and legs binding her to her seat. She expected this, but that didn't make it any more comfortable. She looked up to see who all was there. There was the Minister of course, a young boy taking notes she recognized as Percy Weasley, and to her utmost displeasure, Dolores Umbridge. She gripped the arm of the chair and glared as the woman gave her a wide toad-like smile.

The Minister stood up and cleared his throat. He nodded at Percy who poised his quill on the parchment. "Criminal hearing on the twenty-fourth of September concerning the possession of Class A non-tradable, substances under the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Potion Possession and Use by Private Citizens by Calida Marcella Aderas. Interrogators: Rufus Andrew Srimgeour, Minister of Magic; Leon Turner Dawlish, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement; Dolores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister. Court Scribe, Percy Ignatius Weasley."

Calida shifted uncomfortably. Every eye in the room was now on her; she wasn't used to being the center of attention. She took a deep breath, readying herself for the barrage of questions; but succeeded only in making herself dizzy. She groaned inwardly while the room spun slowly around her.

"Miss Aderas, you have been informed of the charges against you?"

"Yes," her words sounded rather thick and slow.

"Yes," she said more loudly and clearly.

"And you are aware of the seriousness of these charges, are you not?"

"Yes," she said bitterly. It seemed that the Wizengamot noticed the bitterness in her voice, as they began to whisper among themselves.

"Do you deny that you were caught in possession of the following potions and liquids which are prohibited for possession by private citizens? Veritaserum, Polyjuice Potion, Exploding Fluid, Deforming Draught, Scalding Serum, Elixir of Death, and," the Minister paused here, glanced back at Dawlish, and proceeded to add "and other substances used in Dark Activity." He glared at Calida waiting for her to answer.

"They were found in the house I was watching for an acquaintance, yes," she spat at them. Her head throbbed; she probably shouldn't be putting so much energy into this, but she was angry with Umbridge sill being employed by the Ministry after all she had done at Hogwarts.

"Do you associate regularly with the owners of the house?" the Minister continued.

"Not regularly, no." That was true; she had only met them three or four times.

The Minister was not pleased with this answer, and the members of the Wizengamot turned to mutter amongst themselves once more.

"Were you aware that the house owners may be in possession of such inappropriate items?"

"I was," she said slowly.

"And why did you not report it to the Ministry immediately?" Umbridge cut in.

"Because of you," she spat contemptuously at Umbridge. "I knew you would try to pin it on me. And that's what you're doing isn't it, that's what you-"

"You did not have to report this to Umbridge. It would have been better directed towards myself, Head of Magical Law Enforcement, or Williamson who has taken over as Head of the Auror Offices," Dawlish stated.

"It would have got back to her somehow, and she would have pinned it on me. She hates me. I haven't forgotten."

Calida tightened her grip on the arm of her chair. She knew the scars on her hand were gleaming white in the flickering torchlight of the courtroom.

"That is beside the point. The fact remains that you were in possession of said items and that will require some punishment. My suggested sentence is six months in Azkaban under high security."

Calida was once again baffled as to why she was being placed under high security. Then it hit her; she was the little sister of Atabulus Cassius Aderas. That explained it all right. She sighed as the Minister spoke to the Wizengamot.

"All those in favor of the suggested sentence?" he asked.

Almost everyone raised their hand; everyone except Umbridge.

"All those opposed?"

Rather than raising her hand, Umbridge stood up. "_Hem hem_."

Calida cringed. "You miserable old hag!" she snapped at Umbridge, "if you make that stupid little coughing noise one more time I'll make you pay!" She knew she was wasting precious energy, but Umbridge really grated on her nerves.

"I believe," Umbridge began, using her disgusting girly voice but speaking over Calida's threats, "that given the family history of Miss. Aderas, a harsher sentence really is in order."

At that, one of the Wizengamot elders stood up. Calida recognized her as Griselda Merchbanks; she had tested Calida in some of her O.W.L.s.

"I believe that, as this is Miss. Aderas' first offense, and as she is _not_ the owner of the house in which the evidence was found, that this sentence is quite harsh enough," she said firmly.

Several other members of the Wizengamot nodded their agreement; Umbridge looked rather put out by it. The Minister turned back to face Calida. He cleared his throat; she swallowed. This was it, her moment was coming. She wished desperately one last time that she had more energy, to no avail.

"Calida Marcella Aderas," he said in a ringing voice, "for your breach of the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Potion Possession and Use by Private Citizens, you are-"

"_Hem hem."_

Calida twitched involuntarily, and felt the restraints on the chair tighten further.

"I really do think you should all remember that Miss Aderas is the younger sister of known Death Eater Atabulus Cassius Aderas."

"We are aware of that, thank you." The minister spoke in short clipped tones and continued, speaking more loudly as Umbridge once more opened her toad-like mouth. "Calida, you are hereby sentenced to a six month imprisonment in Azkaban."

With those words the door she came in through opened and all the Aurors appeared there again. They would take her back to Azkaban. Little did they know Calida had no plans of returning. They reached her chair and grabbed her arms. The chains sprang to life once more and released her.

As she stood up, she closed her eyes and twitched her fingers. Wand now in hand, she held it close to her, pulled inside the sleeve of her robe where no one would see it. She allowed them to walk her several steps. Her head spun again as she walked; she really was too weak for this.

_No, don't think like that_, she told herself. _You can do this, just concentrate_.

Each of her Auror escorts had their wand out and ready, just in case. Calida bit her lip and tilted her hand very slightly to hit the closest Auror with a Stunning Spell. He dropped like a stone to the ground. The others all turned to look at the fallen Auror. As they did so, she hit two more of them.

She was only dimly aware of the shouts that had erupted around her. She was trying to listen for sounds of approaching spells. She was trying to feel for the magic before it would hit her. She had never been good at that, and she was proving to be even more dismal than usual in her weakened state. She turned and ran toward the door that led out into the hallways; that would lead her to the Atrium where she could Disapparate.

Spells were flying at her from every member of the Wizengamot, who were all jumping out of their seats to run after her. Calida wasn't sure if she was really hearing Umbridge's shrieks or if she was just imagining it. She was running full out toward the door, firing spells wildly behind her. She hoped that some of the yells were spells that had hit their targets, and that thuds were stunned enemies hitting the ground.

Calida flung out her hand as she reached the door. She wrenched it open and ran into the hallway, slamming it shut behind her. She let her senses grope for magical traces of an anti-disapparation jinx. Swearing as she felt it, she raced off down the hall and up the stairs. Surely she would be able to Disapparate before she reached the Atrium.

As the golden gates of the lift came into view, she gave a sigh of relief. At least she would be able to get onto a lift and have a small rest before she got to the Atrium. Even as this thought entered her mind, the gates flew open and Aurors were rushing out at her. She swore again and started sending spells back at them; this time aiming to kill rather than just stun.

She turned at the only available opportunity and found herself facing a plain black door. One rather powerful spell of the Dark Arts let her through. She could have kicked herself for having to use it in front of people. She thought it better if she seemed like an undereducated child trying to follow her family, not really knowing what she was doing. She did know what she was doing though, and she was also completely aware that she had just entered the Department of Mysteries. She recognized it from the stories her parents had told her as a child, well, more of a child than she was now.

She groaned as she recalled what had happened to the last Death Eaters who had set foot here. She just had time to take in the many doors in front of her and the blue flame of the candles before she spelled the door locked; that was a mistake. The second the door had shut the room began to spin. Calida held her head, as the room had already been spinning to her before, and seeing a room actually spin gave her an instant throbbing headache. Apparently her parents had either left this part out of the stories or didn't know. The blue lines of light slowed and the room stopped.

* * *

_I know this is something of a cliffhanger ending, but it was the perfect place to stop. Agaian, I want to know what everyont thinks, and reviews are an excellent way to let me know. Also, I'm going to try to update every week or two from here on out, but with school starting in 10 days, that might get a bit sidetracked. So, I'm sorry in advance for any chapters that don't make that schedule._  



	8. Return from the Veil

_Alright, well, sorry about the really long delay on this chapter. I was having some trouble on making it all fit toghether right. And then school started on top of that. But, all things aside, it is finally here, and I really hope that everyone likes it. It is about the same length as chapter 7, so not too long. However, you can expect the chapters to get a little bigger here fairly soon. Both chapters 10 and 11 are going to be about the size of chapter 6 if not longer, so when we get there, I beg you all to be patient with me. On the plus side though, they should start getting easier to write when I get to chapter 10. Ok, I've talked enough, on to the story now.

* * *

_

Calida blinked and staggered forward to one of the doors. She wished that she had thought things through a bit more, but it was too late for that now. She made a mental note to start asking people for more details about the mysterious places they had been.

A loud noise from the other side of one of the doors jerked her thoughts back into place. That must have been the door she came though. Calida felt as if she had to drag her body into action. She shook her head, willing herself to believe that if she ignored the physical protests, she would be able to respond much better. She had one last comforting thought before she opened the door; all of the people following her were Aurors, and that meant they didn't know what lay ahead any better than she did.

She heard the door click shut behind her, and was enveloped by darkness as it did. There was a brief moment in which her feet felt solid ground; then, with a lurch of her stomach, the ground fell away and she was floating. It took several seconds of panicked thought to realize that the room must have been bewitched to remove gravity. No sooner than she had come to that realization, the room was illuminated with tiny stars shining all around her, as well as the sun and…eight planets. Calida wondered vaguely which planet was missing.

"Damn it, Dawlish. This is my department."

"Shut up, Williamson. I've dealt with more of them than you have."

"That doesn't mean you're any better at it."

Calida smiled. If they weren't working well together that gave her another advantage, and in her condition, she needed every advantage she could get. She took a deep breath. People worked here, so there must be a way out. And Lucius had told her all the rooms were connected, so that meant there had to be a doorway out, besides the one she had just came though.

Knowing how stupid she must look, she started flapping her arms trying to swim away. Then, mid arm wave, something hard hit her in the head. She looked at her hand, and realized she was still holding her wand. She could have hit herself again.

"_Accio_!" She was hoping that by trying to summon a stationary object, she would be pulled to it rather than it to her. With a jerk, she was pulled towards the wall. She sighed with relief and groped for a doorknob. She was thankful for having found it relatively quickly and wasted no time in opening the door and jumping through. She just had time to glance back and see an ensemble of Aurors fall into the room before the door shut.

Calida took a deep steadying breath. She was still rather light headed and it wasn't helping any. She dashed off through the room, not paying any attention to what was in it. It wasn't until she was half way across the room that a glimmer of gold caught her eye. She stopped dead in her tracks and turned slowly.

She couldn't see what was giving off the luminescent glow, but it was one of the most beautiful things that Calida had ever seen. She walked towards it several steps. It was a tiny golden light floating in a small crystal jar. Just looking at the light gave her a feeling of inexplicable happiness that brought tears to her eyes.

She shook her head quickly. It took some time for her to ignore the pain in her head that flared up at that motion, but she finally managed to ignore it and pull herself away from the light. She walked off in the direction of one of the doors, wiping the tears out of her eyes. It wasn't until she had the door open that she realized why the gold looked so familiar. It reminded her of the cup that was still sitting in her room at home, locked away under layers of spells.

Calida suddenly felt full of both dread and panic. The Ministry was still conducting raids as far as she knew. And her room wasn't invisible; it was just under immensely heavy protection. The Ministry was bound to notice that if they raided her house. Who was she kidding? If. There was no 'if' about it. Of course the Ministry was going to raid her house; her brother was a known Death Eater, and her parents had been suspected of Dark Activity for years. They were even cleared after the Dark Lord fell, and that was sure to cause an uproar at the Ministry, what with the number of people cleared in the past who were suddenly turning up as Death Eaters.

She sincerely doubted that the Ministry had a parselmouth working for them, but that didn't mean that they would hesitate to arrest her just for having that level of protection on her room.

She would have to move the cup. That was all there was to it. It couldn't stay at her house. Where was she going to put it though? She didn't know of anywhere that she could go. She didn't know of anywhere that would be safe enough. There weren't any other Death Eaters she knew of whose houses wouldn't be at high risk for raids. This wasn't good. She'd gone through this circle of thoughts before.

Shouting behind her suddenly brought her back to her senses. She couldn't keep doing this. If she kept letting her thoughts drift off like that she was going to be caught for sure. Then she realized, there was more than just yelling; there were loud bangs and screams. Something heavy hit one of the doors and Calida didn't waste another second before she opened the door and ran into the next room.

It was very quiet in this room. Judging by the many shelves of globes, she must be in the Hall of Prophecy. She crept down between the rows, wondering where the other doors must be. She had to find a way out, and the best that she could hope for was when she did get out, the way to the Atrium would be clear, or at least mostly clear.

There was a dark spot on the wall at the far end of the room. Hoping that it was a door, Calida made her way towards it. It was when she was almost to the door, for she could now clearly see it, that voices caught her ear. They were hushed, and sounded worried.

"Look, it's not that I don't care. There just isn't anything I can do."

"What do you mean 'there isn't anything you can do'?"

"We don't know who we can trust. They are everywhere, in every department. What do you expect me to do about it? If I tell someone; I'll be dead, my family will be dead, and whoever I tell, assuming that I actually manage to find someone on our side, will be dead."

This voice sounded very familiar, but Calida couldn't quite place it. Whoever these people were, they were obviously talking about the Death Eaters, and seemed completely unaware that there was one escaped from her trial.

The second voice got quieter still and Calida stepped forward a bit more to listen. "Do you think they know?"

"I don't know…they might. They brought in Owen for questioning, and I never would have suspected him."

"We'll be safe won't we, as long as they don't know?"

"I just can't say. We don't know what else they know; it might not be a problem for them. We don't know how many spies they have. Hell, everyone, in every department goes though a Secrecy Scan daily, and every one passes. Always. But no one can deny that some of the recent attacks prove they have inside workers."

"I wish we had Dumbledore back."

Calida heard the sadness in his voice and felt truly sorry for the man it belonged to. She could only imagine what it would be like to lose your strong point, your leader. He must have solved all their problems when they finally admitted he was right all along. She had to admit that her and Draco had worn identical smug smirks whenever they read about, or heard, some Ministry official or another denying the Dark Lord's return. Discovering that Dumbledore had been right the whole time, and then losing him, had to have come as a devastating blow.

She decided that she had heard enough. She stepped forward and slipped past them unnoticed. Calida thanked Merlin that they both had their backs to her. Then through the next door, there couldn't have been a bigger change. The last rooms had all had rather dim lighting, which was very easy on her eyes and seemed to prevent her headache from flaring up.

This room was brightly lit, and rows of stone benches led down to the central point of the room. There was a large stone dais in the center, a relatively good deal of distance away from the bottom-most row of seats. On that dais was a tattered black veil that hung in a stone archway.

Calida shivered. She may not have been a Death Eater for long, but she was more than a little familiar with the feel of death. Nevertheless, she walked towards it, drawn by some inexplicable force. The whole room felt abruptly different to her. When she looked around, everything seemed to hold a lost and forgotten beauty to it.

She raised her wand and gripped it tight. From here, she could see all the doors. And she knew that it would only be a matter of seconds before someone came though and found her. No sooner than she had completed that thought, a door to her right was flung open. Aurors flooded though and immediately started sending Stunning Spells in every direction.

She was ready. Years of private lessons with Professor Snape came flooding back to her. He had always expected the most from her. She was to have excellent reflexes, flexibility, and fast, powerful spell work. He had always been proud of how well she did, and now she was being put to a true test.

Calida dodged several spells and aimed her wand in the direction of the door. "_Ectomis_!" Blood spurted on the walls and she caught a glimpse of an arm flying across the room. It never ceased to amaze her how the Dark Arts often encompassed spells used by witches and wizards in everyday life, or in the case of this spell, medical procedures.

She was throwing out every spell that came to mind without thinking, and she was only dimly aware of the voices shouting "_Stupefy_!" and "_Expelliarmus_!" in return. The lights of the spells flashed in front of her eyes.

"_Reducto_!" She yelled. There was a piercing scream and everyone was covered in blood and bits of flesh. She felt that it may have been a bit dramatic, but she needed to prove that she wasn't to be messed with, and she thought it better to build up her reputation now than after a few years in Azkaban.

There were several minutes of chaos in which she was never quite certain as to who was firing what spells. She had slipped into one of her oldest lessons with Professor Snape. He had taught her, for 7 years, to sense the magic and use it to her advantage. He had worked her until she became so efficient that she often didn't use her sense of sight when she was doing it. She had never had trouble with it while Snape had been teaching her, but that was in a one-on-one setting, not outnumbered like this.

Feeling blinded and overwhelmed by the magic in the room, she stumbled and fell to the ground. Her vision returned almost immediately from the force of the impact. She looked around and saw, to her horror, that there were now at least fifty people in the room.

Calida scrambled to her feet, shooting spells in every direction, at every movement she saw.

"_Anarespiris_! _Reducto_! _Ectomis_! _Incendio_!"

A moment of terrified gasping from nearby assured her that the spells had hit someone. But they were closing in on her; she was done for.

She saw the stone dais and jumped up onto it, ignoring the screams. She was panicking; she was too young to die, and she definitely didn't want to die like this. Calida couldn't remember ever being this scared before. She was sure it was all over, that they would hit her at any moment now. She was vulnerable, and she knew it.

As if they could hear her thoughts, she felt a Localized Freezing Charm hit her legs. They froze and she felt herself falling. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. All the voices sounded slurred and distant. She heard a rushing sound and saw the edge of the stone archway; then the darkest black she had ever seen.

_Thump-thump… thump-thump._

He heart was beating loudly in her ears.

_Thump-thump…thump-thump._

She felt numb and disconnected, unsure of what emotion she should be feeling, yet, at the same time, as if someone else were feeling it. She felt a hand close on her wrist and fear welled up inside her. She clung desperately to the hand that was holding her. Another hand grabbed her other wrist. Confused and unsure which way would continue to take her through the veil, she held tightly to both hands, feeling horror in their touch. She felt like she was in a sort of eternal see-saw; being pulled first one way and then back the other. And then it was all over.

In a flash of light she saw the stone room again and felt the floor beneath her. She looked to her right, her eyes sliding in and out of focus. She just barely had time to register that there was a man lying beside her before everything went black once more.

* * *

Calida moaned and tried to open her eyes. She was in a bright room it seemed, and there was something soft underneath her. She was confused and hurt everywhere, and there were voices echoing distantly. Apparently she wasn't dead, and this definitely didn't feel like Azkaban, it was much too soft and bright. 

It had been two weeks since she had lain in an actual bed, and she smiled, remembering what it felt like to be properly comfortable again. She opened her eyes just a bit to see where she was but the light burned. She closed her eyes again and moaned in frustration.

"Sounds like somebody's awake."

"Shut up," she mumbled thickly.

"What's that?"

"Shut up," she said again.

This statement was met by laughter.

"Oh come on Cali, you don't really think I'm going to listen to _you_, do you?"

She squinted up to see who she was actually talking to.

"Atabulus," she smiled.

"Oh sure, now she gets it. I think she hit her head harder than you guys thought."

Calida tried to sit up to see who else was in the room, but fell back onto the bed. Atabulus simply sat there looking smug. She sighed. It irritated her to know how much glee he got when other people had to depend on him for their answers.

"Fine," she said. "Who else is here?"

"Lucius, Bella, and McNair," he answered promptly. The funny thing was, he never held answers over a person's head once he had been asked a direct question.

"Where are mom and dad?"

"Working, of course. You know they would be here if they weren't." Here. Calida had forgotten she didn't know where she was. "You're in St. Mungo's," her brother supplied for her.

"What do you mean I'm in St. Mungo's?" she snapped at him.

"Quiet," he hissed back softly. "I know what you're thinking, but no one knew what else to do for you. This is a private room and we only unlock it after everyone is in glamour." Calida propped up her pillow and sat back against it, feeling immensely relieved.

"So…what exactly did happen anyway? It's all just a big blur to me."

Everyone in the room shifted slightly, and Atabulus smiled at her.

"Well," he looked at Lucius who nodded and muttered a spell under his breath. "So, a bunch of us were hanging out waiting on some others to get back from a couple of errands. Next thing we know, we're getting a message from one of our Ministry spies. It said some crazy girl ran our in the middle of her trial."

"Hey, I did not run out in the middle. It was already over when I ran out," she said stiffly. Atabulus laughed again.

" We don't care when you ran out, the message came that you did. And not only that, but it said things weren't looking good. So, those of us who didn't have anything special to do at the time being, decided it wouldn't look good to let one of our own suffer like that."

Calida snorted and rolled her eyes. She knew Atabulus was the one who led them all to go get her, and he didn't do it to make himself look good.

"We rounded up a few people to go with us and wandered into the Ministry in a timely fashion. We all get there and what do we find? Forty-something Aurors trying to kill my baby sister. We took out a bunch of them before they even realized that we were there, you should have seen them.

"They were all running around like idiots firing spells off at each other because they thought their buddies were the ones attacking them. Then we hear someone scream that they got her cornered in the Death Chamber. Well, we arrive just in time to be splattered with the brains of someone who obviously didn't have much of them to begin with, since he went after my sister," he smiled at the other three people in the room.

Lucius rolled his eyes, McNair looked completely uninterested, and Bella scowled.

"Right, so we were trying to fight them off, and dodge your spells at the same time-"

"Which we shouldn't have had to worry about at all," Bella cut in.

"Oh shut up Bella, you know it was amazing that she was still alive to get a spell off on anyone by that point, we can't blame her for not knowing we were on her side."

Bella opened her mouth to continue arguing but Atabulus started speaking again.

"Anyways," he said loudly. "We were doing really well until you went and jumped through the veil like an idiot."

"Hey," she said as she glared at him. "I didn't jump. In case you didn't notice, I got hit with a spell." Her brother just smiled and continued his story.

"I had screamed for you not to jump up there in the first place, but I figured you didn't hear me," he finished quickly as Calida started to open her mouth.

"So I told them to go get you down from there and hoped that you wouldn't kill them all for trying, maybe you would even realize we were _on the same side_. Three or four of them went to go get you, and that was when they hit you with the Freezing Charm. It was horrible really. It was like watching someone die in slow motion.

"Then Bella reached out and grabbed your hand, and somehow, her and McNair managed to pull you out. Only, you came out with someone else."

It took Calida a moment to register what her brother had just said, and then she recalled the man she saw lying next to her before she passed out.

"Who?" she asked quietly. "Who was he?"

"Sirius Black."

Bellatrix twitched involuntarily and everyone else remained silent. Calida looked around at everyone. She had always felt sorry for Sirius Black, no innocent man deserved to spend 12 years in the hands of the dementors. Her parents had even encouraged her to be glad that he had escaped. She knew he was supposedly on their side, but her parents actually seemed rather skeptical about that since the return of the Dark Lord. She wasn't entirely sure how to react. She did feel though, that he might be worth talking to, after all, he too had been a little too close to the veil for comfort.

"So, can I see him?" she asked her brother timidly.

"Of course you can," he said gently. "I'm sure the two of you have lots of things you want to talk about." Calida started to get up out of bed. "But, you are not leaving this room until we say so, young lady."

* * *

She spent the rest of that evening talking to various visitors, all wearing glamour, and having the Healers come in the room every hour to check up on her. She had been entered into the hospital under a false name, and was actually rather enjoying getting all the news of the latest injuries and casualties.

Lucius filled her in on how Ginny was doing; she was still just as feisty as ever, and was refusing to say anything that might be of any importance. Bella, on the other hand, just huffed and left the room the first time she was addressed; she never came back and Calida simply figured she had gone home to her husband.

Draco had also come by to visit her; he was thoroughly enjoying having Ginny as a houseguest it seemed. And of course, her mother and father had come as soon as they had gotten off from "work".

Her mother was all worried and kept insisting that the Healers didn't know what they were doing and had no business touching her daughter. Her father just said he was glad she was all right, and told her that he was proud she had tried so hard to return herself to the Dark Lord's service.

She enjoyed the company over the next couple hours, and was thrilled that she was going to get to talk to Sirius the next day. But there were two things she couldn't keep out of her mind. The most obvious was McNair. He never left the room for more than a few minutes at a time, and he never said anything. She couldn't help but wonder why he seemed to keep showing up at moments usually reserved for family and close friends. The second was the bigger problem; how soon could she get to the cup, and where could she put it when she did?

* * *

_Well, I hope everyone can understand why I was so picky about this chapter now. Thank you for reading. And, as always, please review. I can't stress enough how big a help some of my reviews have been, they help me remember key details that I might have otherwise forgotten. So remember, this story may come from my mind, but if it gets full and you didn't say anything, you can't blame me for forgetting._


	9. In St Mungo's

_All edits and changes have finally been completed. I'm sorry that chapter 9 is a little behind where I had intended it to be, but I wanted it to be perfect. I haven't done my usual pre-post edit on it because I wanted to go a head and get it up, so I'll probably be doing that in the next few days._

_Thanks to SiriusFan13, who not only harassed me, but has also agreed to be more motivation for me to write (see my bio for more details!). As always, please let me know what you think, reviews are always appreciated. Enjoy the chapter._

* * *

Calida seemed to be alright after her exploit beyond the veil, but she kept having moments of weakness where she would just collapse for no apparent reason. There was also a bit of mental trauma as she seemed to have developed a fear of black cloth, much to her brother's insane amusement. She had also been given several blood replenishing potions, which brought her a lot of strength back. 

The one thing that no one seemed to understand was that Calida could now sense anytime a death had occurred or was occurring within several feet of her, and she made a mental note to ask Sirius about that when she got to speak to him.

It turned out to be two days later before she was actually allowed to leave her room. However, even by that point it seemed that Sirius was yet to wake up. So Calida killed time by wandering the hospital, and picking up useful bits and pieces about healing spells.

There was only one place that Calida was not allowed to go, and it was a new wing that had been set up for the victims of Death Eater attacks. Even though she couldn't go into this new wing, it wasn't hard to figure out who was in there and what happened to them just by watching the hysterical family and friends who entered and exited at all hours of the day and night.

One of her more amusing exploits resulted in getting to watch as a young healer was forced to run after her third year Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Gilderoy Lockhart, who was chasing after an old woman wearing a hat topped with a stuffed vulture, and brandishing a quill and some photographs of himself. Calida couldn't help but to give kudos to Harry and Ron for their work on Lockhart. He had always irritated her; something about how smug he was even when he couldn't perform the simplest of defensive spells.

* * *

She was laying in bed on her fourth day when a healer came in and informed her that Mr. Black was awake and she was welcome to see him at anytime she wished. Calida decided it was best to wait until Potter and his friends, who had come to see Sirius, left before she went to speak with him. 

Draco stopped by and kept her company while she waited for Sirius' various visitors to leave. They played several rounds of Exploding Snap, and a couple games of Wizard Chess. They were forced to abandon their chess game when to two sets of pieces began attacking each other at random.

There was a knock on the room door and they quickly cast glamour on themselves as Draco unlocked the door. Calida smiled as her brother entered. She knew it was him, despite the change in appearance by the way he was smirking at her.

"Sirius is all alone now." He informed her.

"Really? I can finally go talk to- ow!" Calida rubbed her temple where a castle just thrown by Draco's queen had hit her.

"Yeah, just be sure you don't let him know too much about you."

She jumped up out of bed and wrapped a robe around her, not wanting to wander the halls in the light hospital robes they provided.

Sirius was in a room three doors down from her own. Calida knocked softly on the door and waited for a reply.

"Come in!" a voice inside barked.

She opened the door and stepped inside closing it behind her. The man glanced up from his copy of the _Daily Prophet._

His eyes were questioning as he looked at this unknown visitor, and his shaggy black hair fell across his gaunt face with a kind of unmatchable elegance. His face was still sunken and haunted from his time in Azkaban, but a kind of fire seemed to dance behind his shining blue eyes.

"Hi," she said, walking slowly to take a seat in the chair beside the bed. He watched as she curled her feet under herself and stared back into his eyes.

"Who are you?"

"I'm…" she paused unsure of what to say. She would eventually have to tell him that she had nearly passed through the veil, and Calida had no doubt that he would know right away that meant she was a Death Eater. She took a deep breath and sighed.

"While we're here," she gestured to the blank hospital walls around them, "will you trust me?"

His eyes searched her face as she stared determinedly back at him.

"Why are you here?" he asked her.

"I was there when you came back from the veil." She said softly.

Sudden understanding blazed in his face and Calida flinched as he lifted a wand. He cast a quick silencing charm on the room and turned to face her, resting the wand on the bedside table.

"So," he growled softly. "You're the escaped Death Eater."

Calida flicked her hand at the door locking it, and then touched her fingers to her temple, unraveling the glamour spell upon her.

"You're young," he commented lightly.

"Yes."

"Why?"

She didn't have to ask what he meant, he was referring to why she had joined the Dark Lord.

"Because," she whispered to him. "The Dark Lord has provided for my family since before I was born. I've met muggles. They treat us like freaks. We're best off if we just keep to ourselves."

"And you think murder and torture are the best way to go about keeping to yourselves?"

"I think that mudbloods won't leave our world just because we ask nicely."

He sighed deeply and looked back at her.

"I'm not going to pretend that I approve of your methods or like you're ideas."

"I'm not asking you to," she said. "I went through something after my trial that no one else has ever been through. No one…except you."

Calida thought she saw a bit of sadness in his eyes as he looked back at her.

"So…do you know what happened? Everyone I've seen doesn't know anything but rumors." His voice was light, but she sensed a bit of pain deep within it.

"Well, I don't remember it exactly, I wasn't in the best state when I escaped," she was surprised to see him smile.

"I've been there, escaping Azkaban is no easy feat, and I daresay escaping during your trail wasn't any easier." He gave a short bark like laugh and she continued.

"I was having trouble, and I didn't know who was on my side and who were Aurors. Actually, I didn't know anyone on my side was there. My brother said they showed up shortly after I entered the Death Chamber.

"I got hit with a freezing charm and started to fall through the veil. Next thing I knew I had a hand in each of mine. I didn't know which way was farther through the veil and which way was back to…the room, so I just held on and waited.

"It felt like I was in some kind of eternal see-saw, and then I hit the floor. I remember seeing you on the floor next to me, and then I passed out."

"Who pulled us out?"

"Bellatrix Lestrange."

Calida jumped as his laugh echoed around the small room. She shot him a puzzled look and he managed to choke out,

"Bella is the reason I fell through the veil to begin with."

"That explains why she's been so upset," Calida laughed with him.

There was a knock on the door and Calida hastily replaced her glamour and unlocked the door.

A man was peering around the edge of the door. Despite his relative youth his hair was flecked with grey and his face seemed to have several scratches on it. She started and jumped out of her chair backing into the wall.

"Professor Lupin!" Calida could have kicked herself. Only Sirius was supposed to know who she was, and now she would have to explain. Her former teacher was peering at her through confused eyes, glancing cautiously between her and Sirius.

"Come on in, Moony, and lock the door behind you," Sirius said casually.

Lupin did as Sirius asked yet stayed with his back pressed against the door watching the both of them.

"Who's the guest Padfoot?" His voice was soft, yet there was a sternness in it, and a bit of unease since she knew he didn't recognize her, but she had called him 'Professor Lupin.'

Calida groaned as Sirius motioned for her to remove the glamour. She closed her eyes waiting for the blow to fall, but the room stayed silent. Slowly she opened one eye to glance at Lupin.

"Hello, Calida," he said with mild surprise.

"Hi, Professor," she mumbled back at him.

His eyes seemed to search her and she knew he was remembering their last meeting.

"How are you?" he asked her.

She looked up at him, confused.

"You're not going to turn me in?" she blurted out. Sirius promptly began laughing.

"Moony, turn someone in, never," he said in a playfully scandalized voice.

"Not today," Lupin commented. "Death Eater or not, you showed me mercy, and I will remember it."

He flicked his wand and conjured another chair beside the one Calida had been sitting in. She let herself float back to the chair as Lupin motioned for her to sit down.

"Mercy?" Sirius questioned.

"Later, Padfoot."

Sirius merely shrugged and went back to reading an article out of his copy of the _Daily Prophet_.

"Pathetic," he growled. "After everything they put me through there are only two lines about my innocence."

"You were innocent?"

Sirius blinked at Calida.

"You think I'd stay here if the Ministry was still after me?"

"Well," Calida laughed.

"How long have you been here?" Remus asked mildly.

"It's been almost a week. I think I'm leaving tomorrow. I've been wanting to talk to Sirius though."

A dark look crossed Remus' face and he nodded.

"I'll leave you two alone then," he said and stood.

"You don't have to Professor."

Sirius burst out laughing and Remus smiled.

"Told you you'd end up being a teacher some day Moony! Peter owes me ten galleons!"

Sirius abruptly stopped laughing and Remus gave a sad smile.

"He used to be a friend of ours," Remus explained. "He sold our best friends to Voldemort."

"I'm sorry," she said softly. Calida felt the twang of guilt that was now becoming familiar. She couldn't imagine betraying her own friends, or her family. It was a different situation entirely when you knew the people who were suffering.

Lupin turned to leave the room.

"Don't go, Professor."

"Haha, there's no need to call me Professor any more, Calida."

She blushed and muttered quietly as Lupin settled back into his chair.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Sirius asked setting the paper aside.

"The veil."

He nodded sadly.

"It changed you too then?"

"Yeah, but I wasn't in it nearly as long as you, or all the way. It's just…weird. What _is_ that veil anyways."

"I believe," said Lupin softly, "That this might be one of those situations in which legends contain more fact than we attribute to them."

Both Calida and Sirius looked at him inquisitively.

"After what happened to Sirius, I started doing some research, trying to figure out what had happened. When it was quiet in there, I could hear whispers behind it. It took forever to find a book that said anything about it, but eventually Fenrir brought me exactly what I needed." He shuddered slightly.

"I don't really like Fenrir."

"You've met him?" Lupin looked at her.

"Only a few times. He likes to smell me."

Sirius laughed bitterly.

"Sounds about right. Anyways, I read through the book and came across a bit about Founder's cave."

Sirius jerked his head around to look at Lupin, who simply nodded.

"Um, what's Founder's cave?" Calida remembered hearing of it once, but she'd never heard the whole story.

"Well, it was about a thousand years ago, around the time that Hogwarts was set up, that was when the foundations of the Wizard's Council, the forerunner of the Ministry of Magic, was put into place. No one has ever said where it was, but some of the early council members found a cave.

"Now, according to legend this cave is what brought about the Department of Mysteries to begin with."

"How?" Calida was listening with rapt attention.

"Well, seeing as how you've been there," Lupin gave a wry smile, "you know what kinds of collections they keep there. When they found the cave there was a stone archway in it, and there was a black veil hanging in the arch. Well the veil was one of the first things added, to a room they affectionately call the Death Chamber."

"And so anyone who goes through it dies?" Calida was starting to get panicked feeling. She didn't like the idea of having come back from the dead.

"Not exactly."

At this Sirius perked up and sat straighter in bed.

"So what is it?" he asked.

"The veil is well, the line between life and death, but by passing through it, neither of you died. You see, because your soul was still connected to your body, you didn't die, you just entered death."

"What do you mean 'entered death'?" Calida felt like she was trying to hold water in her cupped hands. She could hear what Remus was saying, but it just seemed to slip through her fingers.

"Think of it like this," his voice was calm and patient, one of the qualities that had made him an excellent teacher, "rather than seeing life and death as conditions, think of them as places. When your body dies, your soul moves into death. You and Sirius didn't die. You went through the veil whole, so you were just in death."

Calida took a deep breath, it might sound crazy but this seemed as good a time as ever to ask the question.

"Sirius," he seemed to realize that his mouth had been hanging open and closed it as he looked at her. "This is going to seem like a weird question but… can you _feel_ death?"

Lupin glanced between them with his brow furrowed, but Calida saw something flash behind Sirius' eyes.

"I thought I was imaging it," he said with a rather hollow smile. "We can feel when someone has died nearby, or when someone is dying," he supplied to Remus' look.

"Like… like a dementor?"

"Kind of," Sirius had more experience with dementors than she did, so Calida was only too happy to let him field that question. "I can't feel when people are happy or sad or anything like that. But it's like…like being able to feel their soul slipping into death, or feeling some remnant of them lingering where they died."

Calida nodded, impressed at the way he had managed to put the feeling into words. She also didn't miss the look on Lupin's face that told her he was resisting the urge to say something. Sirius, however, seemed able to read the question in his old friend's face.

"It feels…when they're near…it's…"

"Cold," Calida finished.

"And you feel kind of…"

"Detached, like you're not really connected to your body anymore."

Both of them shuddered.

"On a lighter note," Sirius clapped his hands together, "tell us how you managed to escape."

Remus smiled. "I always knew you were talented, but do tell Calida, how did you manage it."

She hesitated for a moment, thinking hard on how much she should let them know.

"Well, when they came to take me back to Azkaban after my trial, I ran. I tried to get to the atrium so I could apparate but there were Aurors everywhere and I ended up turning down the hall to the Department of Mysteries."

"I've seen a few of the people who were at your trial. They said you could hardly stand, let alone cast a spell." Sirius had a mischievous glint in his eyes that made it impossible for Calida not to smile back.

"I got bit by one of the new Azkaban guards." She held out her hand to show them the scar across her palm. "I was trying to make friends with them when they brought in some hysterical woman, I jerked my hand and the Griffin bit me. Took nearly an hour for the Aurors to leave so I could heal it. I lost a lot of blood."

"And you still managed to get as far away as you did?" Lupin looked impressed against his will.

"Well, I had cleverly hidden my wand- no I'm not saying how, and well, I've been taught to sort of… feel magic, if that makes any sense at all."

"It does," they both said.

"Harry explained to us how he's seen Dumbledore do something like that," Sirius broke off.

It was easy to tell that Sirius hadn't fully been able to accept the loss of Dumbledore yet, having only just woke up. Remus on the other hand had two tears sliding silently down his cheeks, his blue eyes bright with sadness.

"Dumbledore was a great man," she said softly.

"Did you know about the plan?" Sirius was very blunt when he wanted to know something she decided.

"No. From what I've been told, very few people knew about it at all. I knew that the Dark Lord wanted him dead, and that he was looking for a way, and I knew that Draco was up to something, but I never really connected the two. Not until the morning after it was all over anyways."

Something must have shown in her eyes when she mentioned Draco.

"Draco isn't capable of murder is he?" Lupin asked her softly.

Sirius snorted and quickly turned his laugh into a cough as Remus glared.

"I don't think he is. At least, not some people. He's young, not really detached enough for murder. You have to be rather detached from guilt to perform the Unforgivables you know."

"That's why you didn't kill me."

Remus gave her a soft smile.

"You were a wonderful teacher, you taught me way more than any of the others, and you had a sense of humor."

"I imagine Voldemort wasn't very happy you let me go."

"I don't think he cared to be honest. He was far more upset with me for letting Potter get away."

"I'm glad he did though," Sirius broke in. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be able to hold civil conversation with you."

They all laughed.

"I like you guys," she said softly.

Both men smiled gently and Lupin placed a hand on her shoulder.

A scream echoed from within the hallways. Calida quickly recast her glamour spell and opened the door a crack. They were on the fourth floor in one of the areas for Spell Damage, a short way down the hall from the new section for the victims of Death Eaters.

There was a woman standing at the end of the hall screaming.

"She deserves privacy, it was the Death Eaters! My daughter has every right to privacy!"

"I understand that miss, but for something like this we have to take her down to the second floor."

"It was Death Eaters!"

"Yes, but the injury is creature induced. This ward is filling up almost as fast as we can empty it, we need all the space we can get, and your daughter will be better cared for on the second floor."

Calida closed the door and sank down into the floor against it. Both Remus and Sirius looked at her with concern. She knew that even through her glamour they would be able to see she had paled.

"I know her," she whispered. "The woman out there, she's one of my best friends' mother."

* * *

Remus led her down the stairs in a kind of confused haze. She couldn't understand why it would happen, she was a pureblood. Her parents must have done something to anger the Dark Lord. 

She sat side by side with her former teacher while the healers came and went for almost an hour before they finally led her mother up to get a cup of tea.

"I'll stay here and watch for anyone, you go see her."

Remus opened the door and gave her a small push in the middle of her back.

Quickly, Calida locked the door and cast a silencing charm. The room had only one occupant, and that was the one she wanted to see, so she also removed her glamour spell and looked over at her friend.

"Tuccia, what happened to you?" she asked in a horrified whisper.

"Calida?"

"Please don't tell anyone you've seen me here."

"I won't, but why are you here?"

"I was here for my own umm, well I'm sure it was mentioned in the paper," Tuccia nodded and gave a weak smile, "and I heard your mother yelling. What happened?"

"I was relaxing outside and fell asleep. I was tired but I didn't think it would be a big deal because it was so early in the day. But then when I woke up I realized it was night and…"

"It was a full moon wasn't it?"

Tuccia nodded.

"I could hear the werewolf growling, and I felt it drooling on my shoulder. I hoped if I stayed still, it might think I was already dead."

"They've got sensitive noses Tuccia, you'd have stood a better chance if you had run."

"That's what I keep getting told." She laughed bitterly.

"Hang on a second."

Calida recast her glamour, slightly becoming aware that casting and removing the spell was starting to exhaust her. She opened the door and poked her head out.

"Oi Lupin, come in here."

Lupin walked in the room, with a slight look of confusion. Calida locked the door and turned to see the look of comprehension that had dawned on Remus' face.

"Professor Lupin!" Tuccia cried. "I…I-"

Lupin held out his hand to silence her.

"I am more than happy to answer any questions you have, but as my presence is not as er- dubious as that of Miss Aderas, I think you should spend this time with her. I will return when you two have had ample time to visit."

With that he turned and left the room, locking it behind him. Calida stared at Tuccia with both confusion and concern. She felt oddly detached from the entire situation. Tuccia had been one of her best friends all through school, and yet, even as she stood by her bed in St. Mungo's Calida caught her thoughts wandering to Sirius floors above them, or else, to the Malfoy family, with which she suddenly seemed to be close.

She looked into her friend's eyes and knew that Tuccia was thinking the same thing. Two months since they had left school and already they felt like strangers. Calida knew that Tuccia and her family would not approve of the new lifestyle that she led, and so it must be kept secret from them. In doing so, a wedge had been driven between them, she realized that would stretch to Rian as well.

She was even starting to feel rather separated from Hector. Both of them being Death Eaters seemed to have forced the two of them into completely different aspects of the Dark Lord's service.

Calida stared at Tuccia, her mouth open, but unsure of what to say. For a brief moment it was like they were back at school, the light that flickered behind Tuccia's eyes was so familiar. Understanding blazed between the two of them. Despite all their assurances to the contrary, in leaving school, they had also left behind their friendship.

"I'll just go then," Calida said quietly.

Tuccia nodded, silent tears welling in her eyes as Calida shut the door behind her.

Remus noticed immediately something was wrong, he rested a hand on her shoulder, looking at her with concerned blue eyes. She felt the tears sting her own and silently slide down her cheeks. A small shake of her head let Remus know that for now, she wasn't ready to discuss it.

* * *

"Calida, sweetie?" 

Calida looked up and saw her mom.

"I know that you're supposed to go home today, but we want you to stay here another night."

"What? Why?" She sat up in bed and her head gave a small throb.

"We're moving out of the manor. Your father and I are getting everything out of the house today."

"What?" Calida jumped up out of bed so suddenly that her vision blacked for a moment.

"What do you mean getting everything out of the house?"

"Don't worry, your brother is going to be helping, we'll get everything."

"I have to go, I have to help."

"The healers don't think that you should be doing any particularly taxing magic just yet. They said you lost a lot of blood."

"Of course I lost a lot of blood I got bit by a griffin. I have things I have to get, I have to move. I have to go help."

"No. Your father and I will get everything."

"But-"

"No."

"Where are we going to stay?"

"With a man named Clore."

"What? His house isn't big enough for us and the Malfoys!"

Her mother laughed.

"We're magic dear, space isn't a problem. Now you just rest, your father and I will be back tomorrow to get you."

With that her mother left and Calida sank into the floor beside her bed.

"This- is- not- good," she groaned, hitting her head against the frame of her bed with each word..

A young witch in bright green robes came in carrying a silver goblet.

"Your mother said you were rather upset. Drink this and you'll feel better."

"What is it?"

"A sleeping potion, you need to rest up today so you can go home tomorrow."

She downed the potion in one gulp and instantly felt it start taking effect. Her last thought before she drifted off was _he's going to kill me_.

* * *

Calida was more than ready to go home. It seemed that while she was asleep her brain had been working tirelessly on the problem of how to get to and move the cup. They had to have been tipped off about a raid, that's the only reason that she could come up with for the sudden move. 

She changed into her usual robes and checked her appearance in the mirror. She still thought she looked rather pale, but for the most part she was feeling better. The scar on her palm stood out vividly and she sighed.

Calida decided that she would visit Sirius one last time before she went home. She liked his company, but knew that her situation would prevent her from being close to him from this day on.

She wandered the halls feeling slightly lost and wondering just how she was going to get the cup out of her room, especially if the Ministry raided the house. There would no doubt be someone standing guard over her room when they noticed the level of security that she had on it.

Finally, the door to Sirius' room opened and Potter and his friends walked out. Her stomach did a sort of flip and she decided that now was not the best time to try to attack Potter. So she just watched as he and his friends walked down the hall. Calida stepped forward towards the door to Sirius' room and noticed a piece of paper laying on the floor.

"Hey Potter!" she called. He turned around and looked at her. Calida bent down and picked up the paper. "You dropped this," she said.

He took two steps forward and snatched the paper staring at her suspiciously. She smiled and turned carefully trying to catch a glimpse of the paper as she did. All she saw was "To the Dark Lord" and then Harry had hastily folded it and stuffed it into a locket that hung around his neck.

Calida stored the information away in the back of her mind for later use. She didn't know what it had to do with the Dark Lord, but she thought he might be interested in it. And why was Harry wearing a locket. She giggled at the image of Potter wearing the tacky necklace as she opened the door.

Sirius looked up and smiled at her.

"I go home today," she said cheerily.

"Ah, I guess this is good-bye then."

"Er, listen," she blurted before she could stop herself. "You're the only person who understands what I went through with the veil, do you think, that well, maybe we could keep in touch?"

A smile flashed across his face, seeming to take years off, making him look like the handsome man he must have once been.

"Sure. Some casual correspondence can't hurt, as long as we're not trading information," he smiled mischievously, "I don't see why we shouldn't write to one another."

"Let me know when you get out of this place then. And, good luck."

"You too, take care of yourself. And," he glanced around nervously and motioned for her to come forward. "If you decide that you don't want to do it any more," he motioned towards her left forearm, "we can get you out of it."

He took her hand as she nodded and then pulled her forward into a one armed hug.

"There you are, dear." Her mother had just slipped in the door. "It's time to go, we've got your room all set up, I think you'll like how it was arranged. We should be fairly comfortable."

"Bye, Sirius."

"Bye, Alyssa," he said with a wink (Alyssa being the false name she had been checked in with).

Calida walked down the steps with her mother into the lobby of St. Mungo's. Her mother gave her a quick smile then turned on her heel and disapparated.

She looked once more around at the filled waiting room where many witches and wizards sat with a variety of different and very unique problems. Then with a resigned sigh she turned on her heel.

* * *

Clore's house was much the same as it was the last time she had been there, although now her mother was waiting at the end of the walkway for her. Calida's time of rest and relaxation was over, it was now time to return to the Dark Lord's service. 

She took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

* * *

_I hope to have chapter 10 up within a week. Continue to harass and review!_

_I've also decided that I'm going to start another fic with much much less emphasis on origional characters. I have several stories in mind that I could write, but I'm going to leave it up to you all to decide. My three considerations are A) the life story of Draco or Lucius Malfoy (if oyu chose this one specify which Malfoy) B) The life of Severus Snape or C) my own story of the marauders._

_I know these stories are all fairly common, but since I lack longer fiction involving some main characters, I'd like to pick something that might get more people looking into my work._

_ Please leave your vote in the reviews. I'm not sure how long I'll wait for them, so don't delay!  
_


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